 When Pearl Mackie's agent sent her the script for Grenfell: In The Words Of Survivors, she knew she had to do it. The play recounts what happened in the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the 2017 west-London council block fire in which 72 people died, using the words of former residents, compiled from interviews by writer Gillian Slovo. Interspersed with this account are scenes from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the report from which is still unpublished. Among other things, it sought to establish how the authorities allowed the block to be clad in combustible material. 'Even now six years later, no one's been held accountable and I just think that's absolutely appalling,' says Pearl, best known for her role as Doctor Who companion Bill Potts. She plays Waitrose manager Natasha Elcock, one of the last people to be rescued. 'So to be given the opportunity to be part of something about Grenfell… it's too important to pass up.' It is an astonishing piece of work, as profoundly essential as it is viscerally harrowing. The play written by Gillian Slovo recounts what happened in Grenfell Tower tragedy (Picture: Interesting Content Ltd) What's remarkable is the level of detail it offers, forensically cataloguing the chain of mismanagement that led to the catastrophe. Pearl says it has been a remarkable eye-opener. 'I thought I knew quite a lot,' she says. 'I consider myself quite aware politically and I grew up in a council estate myself. 'But reading the script I was shocked at how little I knew actually – at how many systems had failed these people. Maybe it's not even that – it's that the systems were built to fail.' Pearl says she doesn't even really see what they are doing as a play, more a piece of activism. 'We're playing survivors and we are telling their words directly to the audience,' she says. 'But also saying that this story affects us and affects you, and essentially ju){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
When Pearl Mackie’s agent sent her the script for Grenfell: In The Words Of Survivors, she knew she had to do it.
The play recounts what happened in the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the 2017 west-London council block fire in which 72 people died, using the words of former residents, compiled from interviews by writer Gillian Slovo. Interspersed with this account are scenes from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the report from which is still unpublished.
Among other things, it sought to establish how the authorities allowed the block to be clad in combustible material.
‘Even now six years later, no one’s been held accountable and I just think that’s absolutely appalling,’ says Pearl, best known for her role as Doctor Who companion Bill Potts.