THE PARALLELS WITH CONTEMPORARY BAGHDAD ARE ST RIKING
Dublin, Easter 1916
Under western minds
Steve Cramer detects the smuggling in of some radical ideas between the lines of the Citizens’ Theatre’s production of The Shadow of a Gunman.
here's a good deal of talk about our right to
free speech frotn contemporary politicians.
yet to any thinking person the litnits of this benefit in contemporary bourgeois democracy are self evident. We have the right to say what we wish. but only after a rigorous form of social programming has been put in place by the mainstream media. which generally guarantees self-censorship in its citizenry long before the police need to be called.
So it is in our treatment of the current war. It is not that we are prevented from discussing it — it is difficult to escape the images which recur in our news. even if any close tip imagery of suffering and the inflicting of death and injury on the ground are carefully censored. But any story told is narrated from the point of view of the colonisers in places like Iraq. In film few tales have been told from the point of view of the people of the invaded country —
yen ‘liberal' filmmakers might speak of the suffering of the people of these economic colonies.
but they are mainly seen from the point of view of
soldiers. (‘lA operatives and so forth.
The same. perhaps less foi'givably. is true of the theatre. The NTS‘ Black lVllIt'll spoke of the suffering of soldiers at the hands of our rapacious politicians and corporations. and rightly so. for the working classes of the west are unquestionably also colonised. but where are the brave attempts to
wriggle free of the psychological jailhouse of
western perspectives? A couple of our smaller scale companies. mainly operating from such venues as the Arches. have shown enough liberation from the shackles our minds have imposed to attempt such experiments. but no major Scottish company has
come near or by this approach. Perhaps our larger companies. fearing the chagrin
of their funders. are reduced to the kind of
‘smuggling‘ activities of the .lacobeans. where. in the work of such writers as Webster and liord. radical messages were carefully hidden under new versions of old stories. It seetns that this kind of ‘smuggling‘ is these days done under the guise of well established repertory stock. Perhaps the most courageous piece of programming of this kind in recent titncs is the new (‘iti/ens‘ theatre production of ()~ Casey‘s 'I‘lu' .S'lmdoit‘ of'u (ill/mum. directed by Philip Breen.
'l‘he parallels with a place like contemporary Baghdad are striking. A colonised country on the brink of (‘ivil War‘.’ We need say little else. In it. we meet a couple of working class men sharing a room: one of them conspicttously fails to correct the assumption made by his fellow tenement dwellers that he‘s an IRA man on the run from the Black and Tans. It gives him tremendous kudos. and attracts the attention of a fetching young lass. But the tenement comes under suspicion from the authorities after a real IRA man uses it for an arms dump. The victims.
as ever in ()‘C‘asey’s world. are innocent members of
the working class. The (‘it/ is to be congratulated for making theatre which speaks from the point of view of the colonised. and doesn't render them as shadowy victims of greater powers. Instead. ()'(‘asey is unpatronising and unsentimental about these flawed but sympathetic and fully drawn characters ~ for once the soldiers are the shadowy figures.
Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 3-Sat 18 Nov.
Theatre
>l<
Hit
THE BEST THEATRE & DANCE
* Frozen Michael Emans’ production for Rapture tells the story of a woman understandably obsessed with the loss of her child, and the serial killer who murdered her. Bryoney Laverey’s play examines the human side. perhaps surprisingly, of both characters. Paisley Arts Centre, Fri 3 Nov, then touring
* Sweet Bird of Youth Dundee Rep’s ensemble company presents this Tennessee Williams classic about and aging prettyboy trying to seize his last chance for stability with the girlfriend of his youth. Cruel fate intervenes in a tragic. if sometimes rather seedy tale of luck. love and lost opportunities. Dundee Rep, until Sat 11 Nov * Richard Alston Dance An exciting bill of new work from this vital and internationally flavoured English company (pictured) makes its latest visit to Scotland. * Talking Heads Alan Bennett's series of monologues from lonely, disaffected suburban characters are by now legendary as television. The quietly human, and distinctly British studies in loneliness and voicelessness are revived at the Tron as part of Glasgay. featuring some high quality actors. Tron, Glasgow, Tue 7—Sat 12 Nov
* Shadow of a Gunman Sean O‘Casey’s classic is revived at the Citizens’ Theatre, bringing a political edge to an old play through its parallels with the modern business of colonialism, exemplified by the Iraq war. Citizens’ 7heatre, Glasgow, Fri 3 —Sat 18 Nov
U1 N». Oxitft‘» THE LIST 83