From comedic to chilling: Steven Berkoff’s West Upper Sixth A Level Theatre Studies performance

This year’s A Level Theatre Studies cohort, Harry (PH5), Jac (HS5), Jaden (CH5) and Theodore (WW5), performed Steven Berkoff’s West (1983), set in the 1960s London underworld. The play revolves around a power struggle for street supremacy in London’s East End. It is a study in masculine pride and the use of violence to assert one’s identity and place in the social hierarchy.

Highly stylised, West  is written in verse, incorporating Berkoff’s signature theatrical style, which blends stylised movement, exaggerated gestures, and slow-motion ensemble mime sequences to create a surreal atmosphere.

The high-octane extract chosen for this performance, ‘pub scene to the fight’, chartered the bravado (and flashes of self-doubt) which embodied a gang preparing for a fight with their rivals. As the scenes unfolded, the bravado stopped being funny and began to have real-world consequences.

The performers used their physicality to maximum effect, creating motorbike, car and gym sequences with minimal props and highly coordinated movements. Their exaggerated facial expressions and vocal performances added to the impact.

Although only twenty minutes in length, the performers took the audience through a rollercoaster of emotions – sometimes comedic, at other times, chilling. This enabled the boys to demonstrate their emotional range, shifting from joviality to aggression, from betraying hidden vulnerabilities to masking them with bravado.

Yet the choreography and stage direction (devised by the group) was as impressive as the performers themselves – slick and with clever use of lighting and minimal props, they transported the audience back to the underworld of Steven Berkoff’s imagination.