THE HOT ZONE. To 25 March.

London

THE HOT ZONE
by Nirjay Mahindru

bac (studio 1) Lavender Hill SW11 5TN To 25 March 2007
Tue-Sat 8pm Sun 6pm
Runs 1hr 35min One interval

TICKETS: 020 7223 2223
www.bac.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 18 March

Grim view of the war on terror.
There’s an oppressive mood to the trio of ‘Time Out Critics’ Choice’s revived at Battersea Arts this year. Slawomir Mrozek’s The Police looked satirically at a police-state. Even Susannah Centlivre’s 18th-century comedy The Wonder. A Woman Keeps A Secret! placed women in constrictive Iberian society. Now Conspirators Kitchen conclude events in an anonymous setting based on Guantanamo Bay, Democracy’s toe-hold in Communist Cuba, where suspected Islamic fundamentalists are ‘questioned’ about their activities.

In a friendlier climate the line of questioning would be, “Look, sonny, we know you did it, so just spill the beans then we can all go and have a nice cup of tea?” But that’s a long way from the terror-regime Nirjay Mahindru’s play builds from “media records of interviews”.

Fear runs through this piece on terror. Its 3 British-Asian detainees adopt various stances to try and get home, ranging from militant Islamist through businessman to party-going cokehead. There’s as much acting among the 2 inquisitors, especially the calmer, female British officer, posing as friend to the detainees in contrast to her American military counterpart’s open hostility.

That changes when 9/11’s joined by 7/7. Then her open aggression and contempt emerges; it’s the American who exercises more control. How much of what happens is invention? Would a British-Asian member of the Establishment start removing her clothes to provoke a detainee? Anytime something seems lurid invention, the suspicion sneaks in it’s probably documented history from this maddened world.

Routines are designed to subjugate and humiliate; detainees follow interrogators along lines marked out in chalk as they move, waddling along in a crouch. As the detainees talk, the interrogators map their ideas about the terror-war on a glass screen. The play’s heart is in the detainees’ interactions, filled with tensions, lies and hopes. All of which apply too on the other side of the authority barrier.

Cast changes from the original production probably haven’t all helped the piece, but it’s still forceful, showing ‘war on terror’ as a blunt, ineffectual and counterproductive weapon which too easily creates what it seeks to exterminate, crushing and corrupting justice in the process.

Soldier: Tristram Wymark
Agent: Ruby Sahota
Waris Islam: Abhin Galeya
Iqbal Rohan: Sartaj Garewal
Sonny Rafiq: Rez Kempton

Director: Dominic Hingorani
Designer: Rachana Jadhav
Lighting: Jane Mackintosh
Sound: Simon McCorry
Assistant director: Toria Banks

2007-03-20 10:27:02