Geoff Dead: Disco for Sale a moving & thought provoking experience

Written by Ruth R. Aiken & Rosalind Saul

The history of the Deepcut army barrack deaths is a long and legally complicated story, but the cast and crew of Geoff Dead: Disco for Sale captured the reality of the true human cost behind the headlines with an incredibly passionate, powerful and moving performance.
Deepcut barracks found itself under the public spotlight after a BBC investigation into the deaths of four of its recruits. Sean Benton, Cheryl James, James Collinson and Geoff Gray all died at Deepcut between 1995 and 2002. The Grays and the Collinsons did not let the grief over power them and decided to take on the British Establishment and fight for a public inquiry into the deaths of their sons, a campaign which is still ongoing today.
Geoff Dead: Disco for Sale, written by Fiona Evans, gave the Deepcut parents a brand new voice, and invited the audience to share the emotional rollercoaster which their lives have become. Conveying the trauma of a family who have lost a son and then forced into the harsh glare of the media spotlight is challenge enough without taking on board the complex background history of Deepcut.

Deborah Bruce’s production brought together an emotional and compelling drama, providing unique insight into the bleak reality of what it is like when the media transform you into the ‘celebrity bereaved’. From the opening scene, the audience are immediately drawn into the play and you are held in its grasp for the next compelling hour and a half.

You are taken through the emotional highs and lows of the families as they learn to confront the nightmare of losing a loved one as well as dealing with the controversy surrounding their deaths.

Deka Walmsey played Geoff senior, the father of Private Geoff Gray, was one of the major highlights of the production.

Despite the added pressure of the real parents of James Collinson and Geoff Gray also watching from the audience, Walmsey played his role with sheer grit, passion and conviction. The audience believed his sense of trauma and engaged in his more humorous moments.

Libby Davidson, played the role of Diane Gray, mesmerising the audience with her inspiring portrayal of the grieving mother. Her ability to exhume such sadness, turmoil and grief, while equally portray the mother as a fighter, trying to hold her family and others together, was executed to perfection.
The set design and imaginative use of visual tools, such as projecting home-video footage of the young recruits, makes the surroundings almost claustrophobic, mirroring perhaps the real-life feelings of the families involved in the ordeal.

Some scenes were even acted off stage and amongst the audience; giving the play so many more dimensions and making you feel like you have an intimate and personal connection with the characters and others around you.

There were times you could almost forget that what you were watching was in fact based on real families and the turmoil they faced.

A sharp contrast of dark humour and grief were present throughout the play, taking you on an intense and unpredictable emotional journey.

Not only does the element of dark humour add a certain texture and shade to the play, but it creates a more in-depth and human feel.

The Live Theatre is the perfect venue for such a production. The low designed stage allows the cast to have an immediate connection with the audience.

Fiona Evans, Deborah Bruce, and the Live Theatre, have to be commended for bringing to a wider audience the issues surrounding Deepcut barracks and the petition for a public enquiry into the deaths.

You can join the fight for a public inquiry by visiting www.deepcutfamiliesfightforjustice.co.uk

Or register your support and petition the Prime Minister directly via the Number 10 website:
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Deepcut-justice/

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