THE OVERWHELMING. To 7 October
Tour
THE OVERWHELMING
by J T Rogers
Out of Joint Tour to 7 October 2006
Runs hr 30min One interval
Review: Timothy Ramsden 7 September at Oxford Playhouse
Political complexities given a cutting narrative edge.
You probably won’t be seeing the film, so catch this tour of American J T Rogers’ drama of Kigali 1994. Rogers' play has filmic elements. Innocent American Jack Exley arrives in Rwanda to search out a doctor friend in connection with an HIV project. All seems well; the first sentence speaks of these as the best roads in Africa. This from an old hand at the US Embassy (there’s a touch of Graham Greene to this world).
There may be trouble and instability all-round, but Kigali is said to be organised, clean and safe. Several Rwandans appear, mainly welcoming. Jack’s doctor friend appears happy in flashback readings from his letter to America.
But he’s gone missing, in familiarly mysterious circumstances. There are hints of violence. Smiles become less widespread and sinister aspects uncovered in some of those bearing them. There’s an unexpected meeting, and at the climax of the action words fail at gun-point.
Other aspects too would fit a Hollywood scenario; Jack’s assertive wife, using her own name (“White-Keeler” interests one African who mistakes it for an occupation). His sullen student son provides the gratuitous moment of regulation sex.
Filmland might go for some of the political context in the calm before the storm first-half, where old enemies and certainties have been pulverised with the Berlin Wall. And there’s a familiar sense of labyrinthine diplomatic tangles when the UN turns out unhelpful.
But a UN Major’s message to Jack, “You are seeking answers in a country you do not know, without a language to understand it,” would have demanded an upbeat ending at odds with The Overwhelming’s conclusion.
Instead, this background to genocide is clearly delineated in Max Stafford-Clark’s production, it’s dialogue overlaps and near-overlaps, plus occasional mix of languages vividly expressing the increasing confusion of this world.
Sometimes the issues slow dramatic development, and Stafford-Clark gives way to a moment’s over-production at the end, vivid theatricality needlessly emphasising the script’s point. The sides of Tim Shortall’s set doesn’t quite seem fitted to proscenium touring houses with stalls below stage-level. But these things hardly impair a finely-acted, informative production.
Charles Woolsey/British Red Cross Doctor: William Armstrong
Jack Exley: Matthew Marsh
Joseph Gasana: Jude Akuwudike
Jean-Claude Buisson/Jan Verbeek: Nick Fletcher
Linda White-Keeler: Tanya Moodie
Geoffrey Exley: Andrew Garfield
Samuel: Mizinga: Danny Sapani
Rwandan Policeman/Market Man/Policeman/UN Major: Lucian Msamati
Gerard: Babou Ceesay
Rwandan Doctor/Elise Kayitesi: Chipo Chung
Woman in Club: Adura Onashile
Director: Max Stafford-Clark
Designer: Tim Shortall
Lighting: Johanna Town
Sound: Gareth Fry
Dialect coaches: Jean-Pierre Blanchard, Mary Blewitt, Kate Godfrey, Gabo Wilson
Assistant director: Jessica Swale
2006-09-14 13:21:15