The Scandal of Grenfell
The Scandal of Grenfell – witness it all in a play near the scene of the fire:- “Dictating to The Estate”.
Regarding safety in housing in London – a production focussing on Grenfell by Nathaniel McBride every day until and including Sunday 12 June 2022 (no production on 7 June). Maxilla Social Club W10 6SW – with a bar.
“Dictating to The Estate” – presented by Special Measures. All about the Grenfell Tower issue. Nearest underground – Latimer Road – Hammersmith and City Line and Circle Line. Turn right out of the underground for a very short walk. Start time 7.30 pm daily .4th June and 11th June. 2.30 11th June 7.30 also. ….www.ticketsource.co.uk/Special-Measures
Labour candidate and writer Nathaniel McBride wrote this engrossing play using what must have been a veritable mound of information garnered from the council authorities and local residents. The acting is absolutely exemplary as a small cast takes on a plethora of roles in order to fill us in on information about bureaucracy and “financial subterfuge” in relation to Grenfell – and allusion is made to other fires in tower blocks including one in Camberwell. Actors Tamara Camacho, Lucy Ellinson, Jon Foster, Nathan Ives-Moiba and Avin Shah portray a wide variety of characters in this production.
The actors taking on roles of establishment and council characters have a backdrop of a screen which guides us through each section of the production. We are drawn into a saga where residents of Grenfell were badly bullied with threats of eviction if they did not allow alterations and improvements allotted to their flats with which they did not feel happy. The cladding was purchased within a budget which seems not to have been enough to cover all the improvements to Grenfell and much discussion was made on the colour of the cladding which seemed odd. Before improvements were made residents were affected long-term by bad electricity supplies which apparently caused some small incidents of short-circuiting and suchlike making the computers which most of us have these days in many shapes and forms actually emit smoke.
Directed by Lisa Goldman and Natasha Langridge, the whole saga used only council meeting minutes, emails, blog posts and testimonies from the enquiry. All praise to Nathaniel McBride for bringing it together.
Penny Nair Price