Theatre review - Woyzeck

A powerful and provocative piece of theatre, The New Wolsey Young Company’s interpretation of Georg Buchner’s working class tragedy Woyzeck, was a performance like no other. The first play of its time to prominently feature sex, violence and cross dressing, director Rob Salmon certainly had his hands full for this production.
  The play opens in true Brechtian fashion with an abstract clockwork scene which displays an almost mechanical representation of the protagonist’s life. From then on the audience become entrapped in Woyzeck’s surreal world and discover the depths of his mind as he plunges forward into a decent of madness. A dark comedy/tragedy, the play is set in an army’s barracks and explores the themes of the upper class’s exploitation of the working class. Franz Woyzeck is a soldier forced to volunteer for medical experimentation by the Doctor in order to provide for his wife, Marie, and baby. Through medical dehumanising and emotional abuse, Woyzeck is undermined by his seniors and pitied by his loved ones. Liam Cadzow-Webb, also a member of the National Youth Theatre, embodied the role of Woyzeck. Teamed with an array of equally impressive young performers, he took the studio by storm as each scene left the audience salivating for more.
  Through physical theatre, live musical accompaniment from the ‘house band’ and a rather amusing drag scene, the New Wolsey Young Company delivered a truly compelling piece of theatre which remains one of the best youth performances I’ve had the good fortune to see.