Answer this… where else can you dance the along to hip hop legend, Missy Elliot‘s greatest hits? Grab a dose of the toe tapping Upton Funk courtesy of Mark Ronson? Forget about all of your worries whilst jamming along to the high octane spirits of Rudimental? Just when you thought the festival season was drawing to a close… Any idea?
The power of friendships are that they can form in the most unlikeliest of places. Drawn together by a common experience, bonds can easily be established and made stronger by the sharing of similar interests. With the prospect of serving a life long prison sentence, it may very well be a case of keeping your friends close, and your enemies even closer in a system driven by fear hierarchy and rehabilitation…
© Richard Davenport
You may be mistaken for thinking that the play’s title bares any relation to Olivia Newton John’s 1978 hit, however, the two could not be any more different! Ahead of Monday’s opening night, I was able to talk to Gbemisola Ikumelo, who plays prison in mate Serena in the Kate Tempest Production…
So you’re currently starring in Kate Tempest’s ‘Hopefully Devoted’, can you tell me what the show is about?
The show is about a woman called Chess, played by Cat Simmons. Chess is in prison for a long time, and her best mate in prison becomes her everything. Her best mate Serena ends up being put on parole and leaves, forcing Chess to look at herself, her past and the things she’s done. A character called Silver comes into the mix and helps her, through music, as she’s a music producer looking for redemption for herself in someways, and comes in to help Chess make music, so with Silver as her new support system, Chess has to face her truth, but find this freedom through the music.