REVIEW: Love and Hate in Stoke-on-Trent by Ian Dixon Potter at White Bear Theatre 23 – 27 May 2023

‘an on-the-nose discussion of post-Brexit Britain’

Admittedly, when I decided to go and see a musical called Love and Hate in Stoke-on-Trent, I wasn’t expecting to see a life-changing piece of theatre. What I did expect was light-hearted silliness. What I got was an on-the-nose discussion of post-Brexit Britain that at times strayed away from satire, veering sharply towards offensiveness.

Ralph lives with his mum in a dystopian post-Brexit future that’s policed by a Gestapo-esque secret police, hell-bent on rooting out the last remaining illegal immigrants. One of whom, is Heidi, who becomes a carer for Ralph’s mum. Heidi and Ralph fall in love, but a relationship like theirs is impossible in a world of betraying informers. The two main actors who portrayed Ralph and Heidi were good, as was their singing.  I’m sure they’ve got decent careers ahead of them.

The songs are ridiculous, in a good way, but they often sprout out of quite serious discussions of bigotry that lack any nuance whatsoever. You find yourself laughing when a song starts because it feels so out of place. If this musical was purely silly it would probably be okay, but it’s attempted to say something, in an inarticulate way, and it doesn’t come off.

I’m not too aware of the writer’s background or if he has any connections to Stoke, but it felt as if he’d never been to the UK’s pottery capital. The play suggests, in a rather stigmatised way, that Stoke is a town full of racist backwards people who have only recently become acquainted with the concepts of carpets and electricity. Projecting views like this is offensive and makes for uncomfortable viewing in a posh pub in affluent Kennington.

23rd-27th May at 7.30pm

White Bear Theatre, Kennington

Box Office https://www.whitebeartheatre.co.uk/whatson/Love-%26-Hate-in-Stoke-on-Trent

Words and lyrics by Ian Dixon Potter

Music composed and recorded by Neil Thompson

Directed by Jack Jones

Reviewed by Danny Shaw