{"id":424399,"date":"2025-09-14T19:15:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T19:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/424399\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T19:15:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T19:15:18","slug":"ripples-bloc-projects-sheffield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/424399\/","title":{"rendered":"Ripples – Bloc Projects, Sheffield"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writer: Tafadzwa Muchenje<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director: Rosie MacPherson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ripples\u00a0is a deeply personal play written and performed by Tafadzwa Muchenje. In this (almost) one man show, we see Muchenje enjoying life in the UK \u2013 growing on the Isle of Wight, going to university in Manchester and then moving to London to become an actor. The tone pivots quickly as we learn that Muchenje is refused his right to remain by the Home Office, despite his family being granted right to remain at exactly the same time.<\/p>\n

This is Tafadzwa Muchenje\u2019s first writing commission and for that it is very impressive. The play takes the audience through a roller coaster of emotions \u2013 from laughter to sadness to anger. Some sequences could be tightened as they go on a little too long, but for a show that is early in development it is already very strong. Where sometimes one person plays can feel like simply long monologues, Ripples\u00a0never does. The tone shifts a perfect number of times and tension builds wonderfully. The writing also feels very authentic \u2013 it is so clear that Muchenje is telling his own story in his own voice.<\/p>\n

As a performer, Muchenje is incredibly impressive. Likeable from the second he begins to speak, he holds the audience in the palm of his hands. He has the confidence to speak directly to each member of the small audience, meaning everyone is up for it in the moments of impactful audience participation. He demonstrates a huge range of emotions and methods of storytelling through his performance, giving everything he has in every second he is on stage. In the play, Muchenje speaks of his ambitions to have a hardhitting fringe show, West End jobs, red carpets, TV and film work \u2013 one can\u2019t help but feel this is most certainly in Muchenje\u2019s future should he want it. Watching\u00a0Ripples\u00a0it really felt like a star had been born.<\/p>\n

The creative team also deserve a wealth of praise for the creativity and skill they display to bring this story to life in the unconventional performance space. Rosie MacPherson is at the helm of the production as the director. She works with Muchenje to use the very intimate traverse space well, ensuring every member of the audience feels included. Matt Powell\u2019s video design grounds moments in Muchenje\u2019s idyll, whilst the reality of his awful situation bleed through. Charly Dunford\u2019s lighting design complements Powell\u2019s video design perfectly, moving us seamlessly from location to location. Lee Affen\u2019s composition works perfectly with the writing and his sound design really helps immerse us into the action. He controls the sound live on stage which is a great addition to the show, but it would have been nice to have more moments when he is brought into the action \u2013 where this does happen, it happens to great effect.<\/p>\n

As the UK\u2019s first Theatre Company of Sanctuary, based in Sheffield, a City of Sanctuary, this is exactly the sort of story Stand and Be Counted should be giving space to tell \u2013 deeply human, deeply moving and deeply eye-opening and infuriating. This reviewer certainly hopes\u00a0Ripples can continue to grow and develop \u2013 it is a story everyone needs to hear.<\/p>\n

Runs until 13 September 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

\t\t\tThe Reviews Hub Star Rating<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t80%<\/p>\n

\t\t\tImportant, must-see theatre<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Writer: Tafadzwa Muchenje Director: Rosie MacPherson Ripples\u00a0is a deeply personal play written and performed by Tafadzwa Muchenje. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[144946,748,144947,144948,393,4884,144949,144950,144951,144952,144953,1620,144954,144955,144956,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-424399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-bloc-projects","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-charly-dunford","11":"tag-city-of-sanctuary","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-lee-affen","15":"tag-matt-powell","16":"tag-oldham-coliseum","17":"tag-ripples","18":"tag-rosie-macpherson","19":"tag-sheffield","20":"tag-stand-and-be-counted","21":"tag-tafadzwa-muchenje","22":"tag-theatre-company-of-sanctuary","23":"tag-uk","24":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115204254824579119","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}