Leaving the Best of Both Worlds a busker’s opera at Slung Low the ‘pay what’s right for you’ theatre in Holbeck, Leeds wanting more, was not what I expected.
The American Dream is often described as being that the next generation will do better than the last. Of course, this American Dream is a pretty universal aspiration. What parent, regardless of nationality, does not want their children to be wealthier, healthier, happier, than they have been themselves? The only difference is how history, political, economic and social systems impact how they achieve The Dream.
American-woman Ali Matthews and Frenchman Leo Burtin escape their own cultural version of the Dream to meet in the United Kingdom, their Best of Both Worlds, to offer the sort of honest appreciation of the possibility of achieving the Dream in the UK that only an immigrant or a visitor can.
Bouncing between 1930’s French café culture and US style sales conference this energetic couple give us an insight into how the other half live regardless of which side of the tracks you feel most comfortable. Afterwards Ali and Leo tell me that they see Best of Both Worlds as a work that is still in development. Nevertheless, they include bold statements about how we live in the UK and the imbalances in our society, which are presented in a pick’n’mix selection of styles, that soften the blow of being shown how those who have made it treat those who are trying to make it. It remains a tad disappointing, however, that they have not taken aim and fired both barrels with these observations.
We live in a changing world, and it seems that nowhere is changing quiet as radically or peacefully as the United Kingdom. The Conservatives are predicted to win the forthcoming General Election in part because as the Sunday Telegraph explains using research from ORB International 44% of manual workers, people who would traditionally be expected to vote for Labour party candidates are planning to vote for Conservative candidates.
People are changing the way in which they vote, but no one quite understands why, yet. What is clear is that traditional them and us ways of looking at the world, which form part of the approach taken in this production are breaking down and surely that must change how we must define The Dream and the Best of Both Worlds.
Ali and Leo seem to accept that the land in which they seek their Best of Both Worlds has as many flaws as the countries that they have left behind. If they scratched below the surface and investigated how things are changing they might have found something very different. If the end, which came without warning and as something of a disappointment, had been an interval they could have returned and looked at how the rise of the outsider as a political force in the USA the UK and France and the growing be your best self, approach to life impacts the opportunity for individuals to fulfil their potential.
I have had a great evening, Ali and Leo should be proud of their production. I have been thoroughly well entertained in a way that I will not forget for a very long time. After all, I took full advantage of the opportunity to engage in some audience participation. Unfortunately, Best of Both Worlds is taking a break over the summer, so you will not be able to catch it again until the autumn. Every cloud has a silver lining though. Over the summer the UK is sure to change, I hope that Ali and Leo have the opportunity during that time to further develop their production so that it is able to provide audiences with the opportunity to reflect on those changes.
During the day Michael Millward is a HR professional.