Superhuman (2007)
Superhuman – An immersive new play by Helena Thompson
Kensal House and Lyric, Hammersmith
Original 2007 production directed by Rachel Grunwald
Revival 2009 (retitled Remember the Name) directed by Mel Cook
Assistant Director Nnenna Samson
Designed by Lili Barcroft
Superhuman is a 360˚ production that picks the audience up and whirls them around – literally! Part play, part fairground ride through time and space, audiences had never seen anything like it.
‘It’s the day before the hip hop show, and a lot of reputations are at stake. But the estate nerds, too uncool to perform, have a trick or two up their sleeve. Could they turn the tables on the guys who mock them? Nothing is as it seems in this wall-glowing, chair-moving take on gang rivalry.’
Superhuman was SPID’s second groundbreaking community show, performed by 15 local young people. Featuring glow-in-the-dark designs, body-popping dance displays and moveable audience seating, Superhuman explodes all around the audience, and at times picks them up, whirls them round and sets them down in different places, to get a new perspective on each episode in this fast-moving, all-action drama.
Superhuman was adapted and re-staged as Remember the Name in 2009, when it toured to the Lyric Hammersmith. The 2007 show was created to tie in with SPID’s ongoing renovation of the Kensal House community rooms, regenerating the space into a useable youth centre and performance venue.
