Legacies

'Legacies' is the latest production from burgeoning theatre company Open Stage.

Broaching the subject of social inheritance the play asks how the actions and deeds of one generation hold ramifications for the next.

Set against a backdrop of greater events stretching over almost a century it follows five individual stories. Starting with an execution for cowardice in World War 1 and culminating with recent events in Iraq the play also takes in the Windrush influx of West Indian immigrants in the Fifties and how racism served to shape the attitudes of future generations. Baked bean adverts of the Sixties, the 'Winter of Discontent' under Callaghan's Labour Government, Rubik's Cube, Wham, The Clash, the Millennium and the predicted Y2K computer crash along the way.

As with all its productions Open Stage literally takes its material from the horse's mouth for this hard-hitting drama set in and around a cemetery. Tackling thorny issues such as mental health, crime and addiction 'Legacies' is collaboratively written and performed with first hand experience. It offers controversial warts and all account of how the consequences of social ills are perpetuated through one generation onto the next.