CALLED TO ACCOUNT. To 19 May.
London.
CALLED TO ACCOUNT
devised by Nicolas Kent edited by Richard Norton-Taylor.
Tricycle Theatre To 19 May 2007.
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat Sat 4pm & 9, 16 May 2pm.
Runs 2hr 35min One interval.
TICKETS: 020 7328 1000.
www.tricycle.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 23 April.
Another Trike tribunal raises questions about the theatre-form as well as political matters.
Tribunal Theatre reaches its teens. In 1994 director Nicolas Kent asked Guardian journalist (now Security Affairs Editor) Richard Norton-Taylor to edit the transcript of the Scott committee’s Arms to Iraq inquiry, for performance at Kilburn’s Tricycle Theatre.
The advantages, shared with similar pieces since, were mentioned in the current show’s Press Night post-show discussion. They remind people of faded news and bring matters directly to many who could never trawl through reams of documents.
Iraq’s still in the sightlines. But, like many teenagers, the form has grown a bit rebellious. Past pieces have been carved from full-scale enquiries. Nobody has actually tried Tony Blair for the crime of aggression against another nation. So the evidence Norton-Taylor has sifted through this time comes from a mock-up.
It makes a difference. People don’t feel obliged to attend (several refused, with the likelihood they’ll be weighted towards Blair’s defenders rather than those with a gripe to express). Witnesses can answer questions differently when the material’s not for an official inquiry. The interviews were held over 6 weeks; 2 witnesses were interviewed by ‘phone. In the post-show discussion the originals of the leading barristers pointed out the evidence did not always mean what some people thought.
There’s no reason the Tricycle shouldn’t use its tribunal form for political theatre questioning the invasion of Iraq. But it shouldn’t be supposed this has the same authority as a script distilled from an inquiry held over months, or years, with far greater resources.
Fatally, the evening ends with the screens that have shown blow-ups of key documents showing a smiling Blair. It amounts to mockery, suggesting a far-from-impartial spirit of inquiry on the part of the theatre, if not the journalist.
Tribunals exist to search out answers, theatre to ask questions. Still, a lot of interesting stuff happens. Diane Fletcher’s physically and vocally accurate Clare Short and Shane Rimmer as right-wing US expert Richard Perle seem to me between them to have the most acute analysis. Valuable, compelling, but not a final judgement. And why do the women lawyers get to do so little of the questioning?
Philippe Sands QC: Thomas Wheatley.
Alison Macdonald: Morven Macbeth.
Julian Knowles: David Michaels.
Blinne Ni Ghralaigh: Charlotte Lucas.
Dr Shirwan Al-Mufti: Raad Rawi.
Scott Ritter: David Beames.
Michael Smith: Ken Drury.
Sir Murray Stuart-Smith/Sir Michael Quinlan: William Hoyland.
Clare Short MP: Diane Fletcher.
Michael Mates MP: Roland Oliver.
Edward Mortimer: Jeremy Clyde.
Juan Gabriel Valdes: James Woolley.
Bob Marshall-Andrews QC MP: Terrence Hardiman.
Richard Perle: Shane Rimmer.
Director: Nicolas Kent.
Designer: Polly Sullivan.
Lighting: James Farncombe.
Sound: Paul Kizintas.
Assistant director: Philip Honour.
Associate costume: Sydney Florence.
2007-04-29 21:25:47