THE POLICE. To 18 February.
London
THE POLICE
by Slawomir Mrozek adapted by Anders Lustgarten
bac (Studio 1) To 18 February 2007
Tue-Sat 8pm Sun 6pm
Runs 1hr 25min No interval
TICKETS: 020 7223 2223
www.bac.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 11 February
Comic absurdity right on targets.
Why is fringe theatre like a totalitarian state? Because, even when you have the right documentation, it takes ages to get where you want to be. Here, at least, the queuing, the knocking on a door to admit a few more before it bangs shut, is an appropriate introduction to the police state Slawomir Mrozek satirises in a way that was doubtless even more immediate to his fellow citizens of Soviet-dominated Poland.
His comedy encapsulates the crazy world of totalitarianism, which echoes Chekhov’s statement that where you have prisons you need prisoners. Here the Police are threatened when the final dissident decides to love big Brother – or the ‘Great Leader’ whose name produces instant salutes. The Police Chief’s attempts to undermine this outbreak of loyalty and keep his prison open lead him to insinuate the very ideas for which he’s been locking people up.
Things can only get crazier, as an ultra-loyal agent provocateur is instructed to transform himself into an instant malcontent, to the point where he can’t work out if he’s policeman or dissident.
Even he’s out classed by the General who insists the Police need to prevent him trying to assassinate himself, for everyone in this society goes through a phase of wanting to throw bombs at important people. Like Generals.
In such a double-think world it’s no surprise the dissident turns up in the guise of a security adviser. When the whole system implodes (by exploding), it’s a logical comic outcome. Inside the system, Mrozek didn’t have the luxury of outspoken comedy to be found in Dario Fo. But the absurd arguments his authority-figures sententiously produce, with their logical irrationality, are just as subversive of self-important powers. And, in a century when democracies are asserting that crime can be punished without being committed, new targets come within Mrozek’s ambit.
Christopher Loscher’s fine production for WSR Propductions has been rightly revived in the annual bac/Time Out Critics’ Choice season. Performances have the right balance between control and protest as new absurdities are proposed, while designer Tim Sykes creates a space both claustrophobic and suggestive of endless incarceration.
The Sergeant: Graeme Brookes
The Prisoner: Oliver Carson
The Chief of Police: Michael Good
The General: David Meyer
Director: Christopher Loscher
Designer: Tim Sykes
Lighting: Viv Clavering
Costume: Zoe Hamilton-Peters
Assistant director: Zena Birch
2007-02-12 13:47:15