Theatre review: Steel, The Studio at the Keswick

Across England there are towns where industry, and its demise, have left their mark. Workington is one of them. The impact of the closure of its mines and the steelworks in the 1980s is explored in a new, two-hander play by award-winning writer Lee Mattinson, who grew up in Workington.

Commissioned and directed by Liz Stevenson, artistic director of Theatre by the Lake, for the inaugural CumbriaFest, its festival of new, local writing, it premiered in The Studio at the Keswick theatre. It is a small venue for a play of big issues – loss and lies, prejudice and pride, identity and renewal – and proved ideal, the intimacy of the space in the round adding to the simmering intensity of the story.

It begins as hapless teenager James (Jordan Tweddle) and his friend Kamran (Suraj Shah), narrating their own story, reminisce about finishing their Friday night shift at Burger King to learn that a posh lady is trying to contact James with the unbelievable news that he is heir to one mile of rail track.

James’ attempts to be worthy of such an inheritance is an opportunity for some good comedy. Ahead meeting Lynn in Butterflies café (one of several real-life name drops), Kamran coaches him to drop the ten most middle class things he can come up with into the conversation. Think Wimbledon, risotto, deckchairs, Princess Michael of Kent and grapes. “Are you with me?” Lynn asks when they meet at Washington Central hotel. “Like a cockapoo in Waitrose,” James responds.

The Steel community choir  Image: Chris PayneIt turns out that back in 1903, his great great great grandfather George McDonough had chosen the mile of track over an extra £1 in his Christmas pay packet, the only one at the steelworks to do so. The track offer was meant as a joke, a worthless bonus, but now the joke’s on Network Rail. In today’s money, the £1 is worth £120, the steel mile £1 million.

However, to secure ownership, James must bring Lynn the original contract that his ancestor signed – and he has 12 hours to find it. The frame of steel girders that dominates the set illuminates like a digital bedside clock, or a time bomb.

Contemplating what he would do with a million quid, James says: “Leave. What’s there to keep anyone here? Me? Nowt.” “There’s that new cinema,” is as much as Kamran can offer in return. Aside from his loyalty and devotion, of course.

Lynn is one of a cast of larger-than-life characters we meet along the way, all played by shell-suited Suraj, who is remarkable in his stage debut given the roles he takes on.

It affords award-winning Jordan the luxury of immersing himself in James, resulting in a truthful and sensitive portrayal of a damaged soul. Both he and Kamran are outsiders in their own way, but James’ accent is authentic – Jordan is from Wigton.

The friends’ search for the precious document seems futile in the absence of James’ mum, who was six when she ‘died’. In any case his dad Marc believes that, morally, he is entitled to the money, payback for all the “horror and hell’ of working in the steelworks, but having never married James’ mum, he is not next of kin.

A Trainspotting-esque (minus the heroin) chase through town in pursuit of the treasure and away from James’ dad ensues.

The paperwork may be at Auntie Wendy’s, but no-one knows where she lives. They hit the Friday night pubs – ‘Spoons, Gaslight – to search for a cousin who can help. It’s fertile ground for racism and homophobia. Kamran observes: “You they make space for. Me? Concrete.”

Suraj Shah and Kamran and Jordan Tweddle as James in Steel Image: Chris Payne Meanwhile, the document may be at Aaron’s, an uncle James never knew he had for reasons that become clear. Another time check. Another dash through town, a conversation through a letterbox, the critical piece of paper pushed forth.

The minutes click on. Another scene. Lynn’s room at Washington Central Hotel, the million apparently in the bag. James is suddenly set for life, yet Kamran has the upper hand as the one who’s acceped who he is. “There’s joy in being different. But there’s more in being rich,” argues James.

Then the proof of inheritance is gone, flung from the hotel window while below a crowd bays for blood, or at least a share of the steel money.

Fast and furious, the chase leads James to the last remaining pub at the old steelworks, now an under-threat gay club, “home to those the town spits out” where he discovers the truth not just about Uncle Aaron but how his mam “lived before she died”.

Suraj Shah and Kamran and Jordan Tweddle as James in Steel Image: Chris Payne With the contract re-found and the windfall multiplied, his reality changes. Now on the edge of manhood – albeit a different kind of manhood than his dad wants – he can face the truth, about himself and his community. In a stunning portrayal of both vulnerability and defiance, Jordan is not the only one in the room whose tears flow naturally.

Railing against the Lake District, a place just a few miles away but a world apart – “Try wandering lonely as a cloud as a single mam” – James realises that it’s the people who count, their potential, their hope. And, like him, they can heal. “Rush us through the crucible and roll us out afresh.”

Lee has revealed that he returned to his own memories of youth growing up in a ‘forgotten’ town to contemplate what a 17-year-old might do if given enough money to have real choice.

He had left west Cumbria to study fine art in Newcastle and never really returned. As a youngster he had never been to Theatre by the Lake; in fact, he had never been to any theatre until he started working in a theatre bar in Newcastle and discovered new plays. He wrote his own, it won a BBC prize and he went from there, writing acclaimed stage and radio plays for the BBC and as a storyliner on Coronation Street, in which Jordan, who graduated from Manchester School of Theatre in 2018, coincidentally had a brief part.

Suraj Shah and Kamran and Jordan Tweddle as James in Steel Image: Chris Payne Lee met Liz Stevenson, artistic director at Theatre by the Lake, at the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2019, in Manchester, for which he was shortlisted, and told her about his steelworks idea.

In developing it he was keen to find out if life in west Cumbria had changed for the area’s young people, especially those with difference, and worked with the theatre on youth workshops with Workington Academy, West Lakes Academy and Keswick School, and Kirkgate Youth Theatre, Cockermouth. He also consulted with Anti Racist Cumbria to ensure Kamran’s experience was authentic.

After a two-week run at Keswick, Steel went on tour to the area that inspired it with performances at The Centre, in Maryport; Florence Arts, in Egremont; The Beggar’s Theatre, Millom, Carlisle Youth Zone; and The Carnegie, at Workington.

The show ends with music, an uplifting new song also created for CumbriaFest and performed by the community choir created for Theatre by the Lake’s 25th anniversary.

They sing of pride, of making a mark. Steel has certainly done that.

Steel by Lee Mattinson is available to buy at Theatre by the Lake.