Review: Protest – Traverse – Edinburgh

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I first saw Hannah Lavery’s Protest in May 2023, nestled in The Studio, and subject to a crowd of varyingly corralled school kids. I debated whether it was worth stopping in again quite so soon, but I’m glad I did. Returned and setting out on a national tour until March, this Protest is a superior offering.

Where that first staging felt a little safe, and thus removed from the reality of young adolescent life, this production has found a touch of grit. Part of this new gravitas is doubtless due to stronger performances from the three-strong cast.

Kirsty McLaren returns as ‘best sprinter in the school’ Alice, whilst Harmony Rose-Bremner and Amy Murphy are new as the Racially-awoken Jade and Eco-anxious Chloe respectively. McLaren gives a winning turn as a young athlete confronting a ‘boy’s world’ of junior athletics. Maybe she is a little too virtuous to be true, but then again who, narrating their own story pays too much attention to the bad bits?

Rose-Bremner and Murphy, however, are revelations in their roles. The former captures both the optimism and, just as importantly, the fears of a young black woman discovering racial prejudice, and a proud family heritage. So when I name Amy Murphy’s gentle, nuanced, and deeply authentic turn as the show’s tour-de-force, it’s not for lack of strong competition. Some performers are born with innate stage magnetism, and if Protest is any indication, Murphy has it.

The other secret of Protest’s increased success stems from Natalie Ibu‘‘s notably more dynamic direction. Small asides wherein our heroes question whether change is possible, and doubt their power to enact it, land with much more oomph. Their setbacks are allowed to set them back, reducing the sense of a 50-minute jaunt towards a happy resolution. Lavery’s text feels far more alive, and better realised as a result.

Protest’s call to power, but refusal to promise any shortcuts to social justice, remains. Lavery’s sophisticated weaving of three monologues into a progressively more intersecting orbit still creates a palpable sense of journey through the 50-minute runtime. Subject to a greater perceived risk of failure, it’s all the more uplifting when the girls discover the power of small acts to foment big change. I do, however, continue to believe our heroes would benefit from just one or two more metaphorical warts.

Nevertheless, as I wrote on first seeing the play, Protest remains a strongly choreographed piece of theatre, set upon an eye-catching set from Amy Jane Cook, summoning spectres of the school playground and the wider world from a shorter perspective. The incorporation of elements of physical theatre overseen by Nadia Iftkhar also continues to imbue the play with needed mobility, and a sense of doing as well as telling. The play finds some additional propulsion in Novasound‘s evocative, and playful soundtrack.

Is there a touch of the fairytale to how things play out? Perhaps, but then again, there would be no point in campaigning for a better world, if happy developments were not possible.

Protest is co-commissioned by Fuel, Imaginate and Northern Stage in association with the National Theatre of Scotland.

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Protest will play the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh until the 27th of January. It will tour throughout the UK until March. For venues, dates, and tickets, click here.

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