Preston Bill, Andy Smith, Z Arts Theatre, Flare Festival, Manchester.

The Preston Bill is a story about a man from the North of England. Andy Smith assumes, possibly quite rightly considering the international performers present, that many people in the audience don't know too much about the North of England. If they didn't then, they know a little more now, as Smith ambitiously takes us on a tour of the North and all of its contextual politics from the last 80 years, all told in relation to a man called Bill, from Preston. Of course this isn't just a story about Bill, or Preston, or even England, it's relevant to anyone living in Europe or beyond, subject to the whims of changing governments and corporate interests. The story is told simply, in rhyming verse on a wide empty stage, using nothing but a chair and a ukelele. The stage at the Z arts is vast and even for a man of Smith's stature it might have been easier to have performed in a more intimate space. However it was easy to get swept up in the flow of Smith's story, both the emotional narrative but also placing yourself in relation to his key moments. I was born in the late seventies, but only became aware of the world beyond mine in the late eighties, mid point through Bill's story. I remember the naïve elation of the 1997 election and Diana's death and from this vantage point it is easy to see the parallels between both Blairs and David Cameron's foolishly optimistic speeches after his 2015 victory. We see these repetitions often throughout, as Smith describes talks between the Union and factory bosses 'Offer made, offer rejected. Counter offer made, counter offer rejected' it reminded be of recent negotiations in Greece.

It is interesting that as Bill ages, his presence in the story becomes smaller and smaller as his impact upon the world and his life itself also reduces. After all the big moments, the deaths, the redundancies, the degrees, his last decade is described in a few sentences; looking round the shops and buying a paper. He dies, the day after Cameron's speech, but the world has been carrying on without him long before. 'This is it' Smith says often, in reference to his staging, and his story but also to life itself. Where you are, what your doing, events happening around you, this is it. 'Be thee self' Bill's mum says to him, so he does, a man with a wife he loves, a job he does and politics that he believes in. There is a sense of deja vu but also of impending doom, as privatisation takes hold, but then there is same sex marriage and the same ups and downs of the economy and life carrying on regardless. This is it; songs and chairs and love and sadness and occasionally excellently told stories like this one.