The Caravan

A poky caravan might seem a strange choice of venue for your average Fringe production, but then the aptly titled The Caravan is no ordinary play. As documentary-theatre company Look Left Look Right’s superb cast of four recreate verbatim the interviews they held with flood victims living in caravans across Britain, you might well forget you’re watching a piece of theatre, so unfalteringly realistic are the extracts performed.

Last summer’s English floods forced 5,000 people from their homes for a year. Obliged to live in caravans just large enough to seat eight at a push, the victims waited and waited patiently to return home. Of that number, some 2,000 are still residing in the caravans that were intended to house them for only eight to ten weeks.

Squashed into the few available seats, knocking knees across the aisle, and plied with tea and biscuits by the caravan’s friendly inhabitants, audience members take on the role of interviewer as they listen to ordinary people's tales of woe. “Room for us to sit and eat more or less, four adults, fridge sink,” reasons Valerie, a supermarket worker from Hull, who admits she felt “just about suicidal” by Christmas time last year. While some bemoan their situation, others jest. “I can't even look at a bottle of Evian mate. I hate water,” laughs motor journalist Zog, whose idyllic cottage was nearly destroyed by flooding.

Sitting or standing just inches away from their audience, the actors’ performances are breathtakingly impressive. Meticulously reproducing every ‘um’, ‘err’ and stutter of their interviewees’ language, the four, who appear alone or in pairs, give a master class in naturalism. The tales are sometimes tragic, at others heartwarming, and often surprisingly amusing; this affecting production from artistic directors Mimi Poskitt and Ben Freedman stands as an important record of those whose lives were affected by the disaster. The Caravan is observational theatre at its best.