One-man theatre show with music written and performed by Hassan Mahamdallie, a coming-of-age story about punk and the fight against fascism in 1970s London.
Punk Days comes to Harrogate Theatre on Tuesday 2 February and Wednesday 3 February, both nights starting at 7:30pm. It's a one-man show written and performed by Hassan Mahamdallie and directed by Stef O'Driscoll, and it's as much about music as it is about theatre.
Mahamdallie describes it as part autobiography, part musical journey and part political coming-of-age. It's the true story of a mixed-race, working-class kid growing up in 1970s London, plagued by racism, who finds hope and liberation in the power of punk and the fight against fascism. The music isn't just a backdrop; it's woven into the storytelling, and the staging leans on the summer of 1977, when the Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen hit the top of the charts and was promptly banned by the BBC. The records are played at 45 revolutions per minute, so the sound you hear on stage is the real thing.
Because it's a one-man show, Mahamdallie carries the whole thing himself, playing the music and telling the story in one go. It's his own life he's working with here, so the autobiography side of it is the real deal, and the political side comes from that specific London backdrop of the late seventies. If you've ever wondered how a particular record or a particular scene can change the way you see the world, that's exactly where this sits.
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It runs for two nights at Harrogate Theatre on Oxford Street in the town centre, HG1 1QF, with both performances starting at 7:30pm. Tickets are £22 standard and £15 concession.
