Brassic FM is the kind of pirate station you might tune into while twiddling the controls of an old radio – a subculture as much as a station existing within the static. It is represented by keyboards strapped to a shopping trolley in this inventive, music-filled production, which takes us back to the makeshift, below-the-radar mobility of such stations.
Co-created by director Stef O’Driscoll and writer Zia Ahmed, the production embodies the fierce sense of community in such subterranean set-ups. As the DJ tells his listeners: “This is our time, our city.”
Three actors (Zainab Hasan, Jonny Britcher and Zakiyyah Deen) play an array of characters whose stories – funny, moving and warming – are told as alternating snapshots or shoutouts. Through them we hear about working-class lives as well as those silenced or seldom heard: imprisoned women, zero-hours and undocumented workers, single mothers struggling with the child benefit cap, those on jobseekers’ allowance. The actors’ navigations between this panoply of voices are fast and artful though you lose a hold on some of the shifting time periods or scenarios.
Kwake Bass’s ambient and infectious compositions mix house, rave, jungle, grime, soul and drill. This is music at its most political, embodying issues around collective gathering and reminding us of police action against drill artists. A highlight comes when a caller (Hasan) delivers a punky song about inequality while Britcher adeptly spits out grime and rap-like lyrics.
Some lives are illuminated beautifully, such that of a recently deceased Pakistani-born mother, whose daughter listens to audio tapes of her early years as an immigrant factory worker to find a record of her early, burning romance.
If the show is ultimately a little too baggy and ad hoc in its narrative and pace, it always retains its humanity. It is also heartening to see the Gate’s continued life in its new, albeit temporary, venue in Somers Town after leaving its Notting Hill site. As the actors stand among us, we become active listeners, taking part in the call-ins and shoutouts, all in the democratic spirit of pirate radio.
At the Gate theatre, London, until 30 September
