Joe Hill: The Man Who Never Died
★★★★☆ Inspiring
C Aurora (Venue 6): Thu 1 – Sun 25 Aug 2024
Review by Hugh Simpson
Joe Hill: The Man Who Never Died, from The Joe Hill Project with Joey Shaw at C aurora, is an old-fashioned piece of political street theatre performed with clarity and focus.
Shaw is a New York-based actor and singer who presents a portrait of Joe Hill, the Swedish-born US songwriter, labour activist and member of the Industrial Workers of the World (the IWW, or ‘Wobblies’). Hill was executed by firing squad in Utah in 1915 after having been found guilty of a murder he almost certainly had nothing to do with.
Joey Shaw. Pic: Hugh Simpson.
He has since been celebrated, notably by the song Joe Hill by Alfred Hayes and Al Robinson, recorded by Paul Robeson, Pete Seeger and Joan Baez among others and performed by Shaw here. He has also been an inspiration to everyone from Woody Guthrie to Rage Against the Machine, yet – as Shaw points out here – he isn’t the first Joe Hill who comes up on Google. That’s a writer and son of Stephen King (who admittedly was named after the original Hill).
Shaw performs this show with real conviction and skill in a distinctly unpromising space in the outdoor bar area at C aurora. The set-up means that as well as the audience who have come to see him (on a pay-what-you-can basis), he is dealing with those who are buying a drink, waiting for other shows or just passing by. Not to mention the traffic, the piper outside the hotel on the corner and high-spirited casts of other shows entering and leaving the venue.
dignity and professionalism
Shaw overcomes all of this with great dignity and professionalism, a gritty, clear, storyteller’s singing voice, accomplished guitar backing, and an actor’s way with between-song patter.
There are not as many of Hill’s actual songs as might be expected, although we do get a mash-up of Rebel Girl with Bikini Kill’s song of the same name, and The Preacher and The Slave (which gave the world the phrase ‘pie in the sky’.
The other numbers are well chosen – country standard Long Black Veil chimes with the circumstances in which Hill refused to give an alibi when arrested on the murder charge; other songs are from artists as diverse as PUP and BobDylan. Readings from Hill’s prison letters add a poignant note to the consciousness-raising.
It is not the easiest venue for a performer (or indeed for an audience if it isn’t dry or warm), but there is a splendid irony to some of the material being performed in front of a Jesuit church. The end result is gripping, emotional and thoroughly impressive.
Running time: One hour and 5 minutes (no interval)
C aurora (Courtyard), Lauriston Halls, 28 Lauriston St, EH3 9DJ (Venue 6)
Thursday 1 – Sunday 25 August 2024
Daily at 2.30 pm
Details and tickets at: Book here
Website: https://joehill100.com
Joey Shaw. Pic: Hugh Simpson.
ENDS
