The Big Life
In 2004, as his swansong at Stratford East after a 25-year tenure as artistic director, Philip Hedley programmed ‘The Big Life’. It is bittersweet then, that the hit musical returns to the venue to celebrate its 20-year anniversary in the year of his death – Hedley passed away in January. His memory lives on in this belter of a musical revival and time has done little to age its story. Today it is as infectious, heart-rendering and as achingly resonant as ever. Paul Sirett and Tameka Empson’s script takes the convoluted comedy of Shakespeare’s ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ and enriches it to tell a battle of the sexes story from the Windrush generation. Dennis, Ferdy, Bernie and Lennie arrive by boat to Britain full of aspirations and big dreams. ‘The sky’s the limit,’ they sing, wide-eyed and determined to make something of themselves. Nothing will hold them back. And so, after Bernie and his wife-to-be Sybil have a spat on the ship over, the men all reluctantly promise to abjure women and booze for three years. The music is the lifeblood of this tale of suspended satisfaction: the cocktail of blues, jazz, calypso and soul is a gesture to what the Windrush generation left and lost when they travelled across the waters. The men’s bright futures soon turn cloudy. They are turned away from every B&B in the city, can’t get the jobs they’re qualified for, and are subjected to endless racist taunts. With each knockback, the sparkle in their eyes dwindles just a little bit more. Somehow