Read our review of The Island, which was staged recently in the Quays Theatre at The Lowry.

Over the years, I must have seen hundreds of theatre shows and I realise I am in a lucky position to be able to go along and see what the actors, writers and stage management teams have produced for their audiences.

Every now and then a show will come along which makes more of an impression than usual.

It isn’t always the big budget show which can rival any produced in the West End. 

More often than not it can be the smaller scale production which leaves a lasting memory.

One such show is The Island which was staged recently at The Lowry, in the smaller, more intimate Quays Theatre.

The Island, written by Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. 

It is set on an unnamed prison island, but is based on real-life Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life.

Here we meet prisoners John and Winston who are put through the rigours of hard labour - the pointless tasks of working on a beach or in a quarry.

The play starts with them going through the arduous, but silent, monotonous tasks of digging, lifting and moving heavy loads on a beach.

The only respite they get is when they are back in their cell, exhausted, but still able to keep each other’s spirits up.

The two prisoners are played by Ewen Cummins and Dan Poyser, and due to the sheer brilliance of the two actors, complete with South African accents, you totally believe the situation they are in.

The guards and the noises of the prison regime are portrayed by loud speakers and sirens. All adding to the oppression which the prisoners feel.

You watch as they express their fear of the unseen guard Hodoshe who shackles the prisoners together at the hands and feet, and hits them around the head, causing injuries which the men try to alleviate with old rags and water in their cell.

Conflict arises between the two friends when they are set to stage a production of Greek tragedy Antigone for their fellow prisoners.

John plays King Creon who has to sit in judgement of Antigone, played by Winston,  who has defied orders and buried her brother, who was seen as a traitor of the state.

Winston struggles to remember his lines and doesn’t want to dress up as a woman. But the two sort out their differences and stage the production - a play within a play.

The other conflict between the two starts when John is told that his sentence has been cut from 10 years to three years and he only has three months left to serve.

This leaves Winston, who is at first happy for his friend, bereft, knowing that John will be free soon, while he will be left behind and forgotten.

Even though the subject matter is pretty heavy going, there are still many comedic elements as the two men bicker as they go about their everyday rituals and the staging of the play. 

You have to think how difficult, and dangerous, it must have been when The Island was first shown, in Cape Town in 1973, which was in the grip of apartheid at the time.

Elysium Theatre Company must be applauded for their staging of this play. 

The Island is their eighth stage production, and completes their Fugard Trilogy, which includes Hello And Goodbye and Playland. 

The Island is one of the most famous plays of the second half of the 20th Century and has been seen all over the world. A rich, boisterous, funny, moving piece of theatre, it is a hymn to the human spirit and a cry for freedom everywhere.

It is masterpiece which should be seen by audiences everywhere and one which will stay in my memory for a very long time.