No Man’s Land – Youth Music Theatre UK – Square Chapel Arts Centre, Halifax

No Man’s Land was performed by Youth Music Theatre UK at Square Chapel Arts Centre, Halifax.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

I think it is only honest of me to admit that I walked in the doors expecting some kind of reflection on the horrors of the First World War which would include, at some point, a stylised football match between the trenches. However, I stopped short and did a double take when I saw the all-female ensemble. A rapid rethink suggested that the title was presaging a radical feminist text about the redundancy of men.

Neither of these, it transpired, was anywhere near on the money.

As a persecuted outsider emerges from the chorus, it becomes apparent that ‘Man’ here is being used in the traditional sense of ‘One’ and the theme is the failure of the outcast to find a home.

The production is split into two scenarios: an army boot camp (cast wearing nondescript khaki) and a flashing lights disco with guest celebrity wearing a Stetson hat. Interspersed with these two is an enigmatic operation scene with eight cast members miming some kind of surgical procedure.

The basic concept belongs to acclaimed choreographer and director Rachel Birch-Lawson, but there has been considerable cast involvement in the development of the piece.

The opening army section is a high-energy dance routine using military drill moves and combat training gestures. Movement is disciplined and co-ordinated. Khyle Eccles, as co-choreographer and rehearsal director, certainly focuses the youthful enthusiasm of the 38 cast members on precision of movement.

It is at this point that the outsider emerges and makes a bid to free herself from the shackles of a military life redolent of North Korea.

Covering for a scene change, a bed is wheeled to the middle of the floor and eight figures in blue plastic scrubs undertake an operation on the unfortunate outsider. The purpose of this isn’t clear, but perhaps there is a reference to plastic surgery (explicit in the disco scene); society enforcing conformity or popular horror film genres. Whatever, it appears as a trope on a number of subsequent occasions.

Suddenly, a screen is rolled back and we are in a disco. The girls have swapped their combat fatigues for a uniform of a different type; short skirts and crop tops. The compulsion to conform emerges once more as the star celebrity is acclaimed for her legs, boobs and nose job.

We are being asked: is this freedom when all around us there are clear signs of manipulation and conformity?

The acting space for No Man’s Land is vacant and rather grim, but made vibrant by Nicola Chang’s pounding score. The frantic pace means there is little time for exposition, but there is still plenty of thought-provoking action taking us through themes of gang culture, refugee status and freedom of the individual.

This is a promenade performance and actors physically move audience members around. With this kind of close proximity, the cast has to be absolutely committed to the drama to be convincing, and they are – in spades.

Mike Tilling