The Courtyard Theatre had been redesigned for the Round. One of its many variations to suit the plays that it has staged. However, the original designers of the theatre seating had not made provision for space between the seats, long legs, wide bottoms and those with difficulty navigating the spaces between seat and aisle. A pity, for the play Sunbeam Terrace, reflecting life in an area of Leeds where drug taking was one of the only ways to escape the tedium of the run of life in the area, is worth watching. Mark Catley the author obviously knew his subject and used the situations and words to match. Four letter words are commonplace and the situations are not everyones taste. The Director Alex Chisholm gets everyone in the right place at the right time. If you can stand the first half hour you should start to reflect on what is being portrayed in front of you.

We had a Hardman, played by Mick Martin, trying to get the dealer, played by Gary Whitaker, to stop dealing. The buyers, a Teenage Boy played by Dorian Smith and a Lap Dancer, played by Sally Walsh, who has a baby, demanding of the Dealer their needed supplies. An Old Man, played by Ron Blass, seemed to be the conscience of all, but this is not made clear what he was doing in the play at all. Its a muddled simple plot, but it seems to work. There were a lot of well used lines such as “She’s trying to cut down” when the Hardman asked the Lap Dancer what about the baby when the mother has just bought drugs. In fact the whole play is just a list of known situations.

A mixed age group of people watched, some laughed, some sat quietly wondering and others did not quite understand what they were watching. At the end some stood and applauded and others gave a polite response to the actors efforts, each with their own thoughts. Try it, but do not expect a classic piece of theatre. © BA

“Sunbeam Terrace” is in Leeds from the 27th March until the 12th April, 2003.