The play follows Claire (Olivia Onyehara) and her best friend since they were four years old, Ella Grey (Grace Long). We meet these two, alongside the rest of their tight knit group; Sam (Amonik Melaco), Angeline (Beth Crame) and Jay (Jonathan Iceton) as they teeter on the edge of leaving school and starting the next chapter of their lives. Their will for adventure as adulthood looms over them leads them to Bamburgh beach. The mysterious figure of Orpheus appears, setting them all down a path they would never have foretold. For one, their next chapter is forcibly closed, and the rest of the group are left to navigate life alongside this loss - if they can even accept it.
The play is structured around the group pre and post A Level exams, and the cast do a great job of portraying a humorous, yet realistic depiction of a group of young people bonded through the experience of overbearing school teachers and rival classmates, amidst the tensions of inter-group crushes.
Grace Long (who you may know of TikTok skit fame), is mystical in the titular role, portraying the character with an other-worldly quality - something which sets Ella Grey apart from her friends. In this way it is totally believable that both her friends and Orpheus would be so drawn to her, as we see throughout the performance.
The staging itself reflected the tone of each act respectively. From the comfy cloud-like platforms reflecting the cosiness of the group’s friendship in the first act, to the harsh oil spill shapes in the second, reflecting the fracturing of life as they knew it, and their passage to the underworld.
It was here in the underworld that I became slightly lost when following some plot specifics. I was not familiar with the myth going into the performance so this may be why, though I feel that because this section was quite fast-paced and busy, some of the important 'quieter' moments got lost. However, this didn’t detract from my overall understanding or enjoyment.
The use of shadows throughout the piece, in particular to create the figure of Orpheus, was highly effective. None of those on stage can agree on the physical appearance of his character, therefore casting him as a shadow captures his mysteriousness, becoming a figure that even the audience cannot quite see. The use of lighting also added an extra dimension to the story. There is a scene just before the close of the first act, in which blue light is used to cut through the mythical and open both the cast and the audience’s eyes to reality, something they've all been drawn away from in Orpheus’s enthral - this was a brilliant moment.
If you want to experience the performance for yourself, A Song for Ella Grey is being performed at Northern Stage until the 15th of February. If you struggle to catch it in Newcastle, here are the national tour dates to chase this amazing theatre performance down across the UK.
1-15th February - Northern Stage, Newcastle
20-24th February - York Theatre Royal
27th Feb - 2nd March Theatre Peckham
5-9th March Hull Truck
13-16th March - Liverpool Playhouse