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On your way to the National Theatre you will almost certainly spot some of London's rough sleepers, who number almost 6,500 people according to on-the-ground charity Broadway. In Tim Price's urgent, heartfelt monologue, Danny is one of these rough sleepers, a man who likes order but whose life has become chaotic through addiction, marriage breakdown, and the loss of a child.
- Protest Song
- The Shed,
- London
- SE1 9PX
- Until Until 11 January
- Box office:
020-7452 3000 - Venue website
Danny is played superbly by Rhys Ifans, who brings a whiff of danger and something imminently combustible to this erratic, angry, lonely man. Passersby may see him, maybe even give him money, but "people don't touch me," he says, explaining that he takes care not to brush by people for fear of seeing the revulsion in their faces.
But then something happens to Danny that stops him feeling "disgusting and repulsive". His regular sleeping spot on the steps of St Paul's becomes the focus of the Occupy movement. Tents spring up around him overnight. At first Danny is furious at this invasion, but gradually he gets involved. "I'm not protesting," he insists. But he helps in the kitchen, discovers avocados, and brings much-needed order to the shelves. For Danny, Occupy is not symbolic, it is his life. What happens when the lifeline disappears?
The clue to Price's piece is in the title. The cry of protest it invokes is a strong one against the inequalities we all condone by our continued failure to do anything about them. We join in the laughter when Danny gets sweary about Boris Johnson, but it changes nothing. This is no warm-hearted, Christmas fairytale ending – in fact quite the contrary. But the piece does suggest, through the metaphor of a piano with damaged keys, that when something is broken you have to find a way to work around it. It's the only way the music will be heard.
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