BROKEN VOICES. To 16 April.
London
BROKEN VOICES
Implosion by Ignacio Apolo (Argentina)
When the War Came by Ursula Rani Sarma (Ireland)
The Error by Adania Shibli (Palestine)
Nine Tenths by Tena Stivicic (Croatia)
Sweethearts Francine Volpe (USA)
Corpse of the President by Jawad Al Assadi (Iraq)
All Thee Guys Gianina Carbunaria (Romania)
I Join Them by Natalya Vorozhbit (Ukraine)
Tristan Bates Theatre 1a Tower Street WC2 To 23 April 2005
Mon-Sat 7.30pm
Runs 2hr 40min One interval
TICKETS: 020 7240 6283
tbt@actorscentre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 4 April
Elective scenes from round the world.Around the world in 8 elections New Company certainly have a sense of timing. But the insults and promises of the British General Election are nothing compared with the international scenes shown here. Though, as so often, this kind of script compositing tends less to create an overall statement than to show up fissures between styles and approaches. A kind of kaleidoscope eventually emerges, but no bigger picture.
So, Ignacio Apolo's collage of direct statements about Argentinian instability and economic desperation gives way to the poetic Irish contribution, where a strained personal relationship plays against soldier archetypes in the book that's absorbing the man's interest.
Does Jawad Al Assadi's grimly comic story of an Iraqui elected president's body decomposing at an American checkpoint, staffed by a female soldier too glued up on chewing-gum and earpiece to hear the request to help out, come as anti-climax or relief after Sweethearts the intense USA contribution? It's a Southern tale of friends split as one (the Black actor but would it be the White character?) moves out while an aggressive, commanding voice, bull-necked authority, calls from offstage.
Two pieces stand out. In the final play I Join Them Natalya Vorozhbit sees the recent hotly-contested Ukrainian elections through the detached relaxation of someone abroad receiving news of the rigged voting and public protest, hot indignation in freezing temperatures. Eventual involvement with the news from home, snappily summed up in the title, is a rare moment of optimism in the evening.
There's certainly none in Palestinian Adania Shibli's The Error. Four people live in a room. A parcel arrives; they fear a bomb. It's worse a radio that delivers instructions and effects sanctions. This outside power punishes mistakes and infringements by increasingly restricting their living space. Their reaction is self or mutual blame.
Shibli's power-parable is utterly theatrical. Its focus on character and significant use of space makes it stand out in this company. Capably performed, as are all these scenes, it's a vindication of the format and, like a couple of its companions, well worth picking up for use elsewhere.
Cast:
Emma Buckley, Kyla Davis, Grant Gillespie, Gracy Goldman, Anthony Lewis
Directors: Simon de Deney, Anouke Brook
Designer/Costume: Andy Edwards
Sound: Jack Arnold
Assistant directors: Julia McShane, Vanessa Mobiglia
2005-04-12 23:48:00