PLONTER. To 7 February.

London.

PLONTER
by Yael Ronen and the company.

Barbican Theatre (The Pit) To 7 February 2009.
Mon-Thu; Sat 7.45pm Sun 5pm
Runs 1hr 50min No interval.

TICKETS: 0845 120 7511 (booking fee).
www.barbican.org.uk/bite (reduced booking fee online).
Review: Timothy Ramsden 28 January.

Pointed theatrical report from the conflict zone.
Mixing Arab and Jewish actors in Israel, Tel Aviv’s Cameri Theatre has devised with director Yael Ronen a collage of scenes from the mutual stand-off between the two nationalities. Its mood ranges from the – literally - deadly serious to the satirically comic – the Jewish woman who believes soldiers giving Arab children sweets as their homes are searched will prevent them growing-up hating Jews.

Such satire’s repeated with the builder who constructs the security Wall through an Arab couple’s house, happily assuring them he’ll paint it in pastel shades at no extra cost. Later, this joke’s possibly over-extended as an Israeli guard prevents a baby and a grandmother moving around their home.

But it’s a luxury to comment with such detachment. Like Galilee Multicultural Theatre’s Neighbours, the two-man cross-cultures show that visited Alnwick’s Further Upstix Festival last April, the most remarkable thing is that this material is being produced by people in the midst of the conflict.

Plonter’s scenes illustrate the tangle (the title’s meaning in English) between Israel’s Arabs and Jews. It starts with a patronising middle-class Jewish woman preparing a meal for a couple of Arabs. There’s something of Abigail’s Party’s Beverley about her, while the scene’s specific situation was explored more deeply in Sonja Linden and Adah Kay’s Welcome to Ramallah in Dalston and York last October.

But, like 2003’s film of the Promises Project in Israel, Plonter admirably shows that headline hostilities disguise human complexities. The bleating animals surprised by the Wall’s erection may be making an easy point, but the tall slabs manoeuvred about to form this wall, and the final film of people walking atop it are strong, simple visual statements.

There’s the sense of childhood spoilt as youngsters excitedly play with a suicide-bomber’s dynamite jacket, offset elsewhere by the danger that awaits them. Video of a shot child hitting the ground backs soldiers cleaning-up their report of the incident, yet unable to avoid personal guilt, while the bereaved parents grieve. Finally, the two peoples’ lives intertwine onstage. By when, a production whose very existence is a hopeful political statement has clearly made its point.

Cast:
Raida Adon, Mira Awad, Yaniv Biton, Shredi Jabarin, Irit Kaplan, Tamar Keenan, Yoav Levy, Assaf Pariente, Yousef Sweid.

Director: Yael Ronen.
Designer/Costume: Einat Palgi.
Lighting: Keren Granek.
Music: Alon Lotringer.
Video: Ariel Efron.
Assistant director: Sharon Giller.

2009-01-31 10:33:17