Construction Workers

In political theatre, as with any kind of drama, it’s not enough to know the story you want to tell; you have to be sure you’re telling it in the right way. What’s the structure? From the forum theatre of Augusto Boal, to the naturalism of David Hare to the epic fantasias of Tony Kushner, as much is communicated through form as content.

Stop the Presses!

Vancouver’s Headline Theatre is currently staging its production of Here and Now about violence within that city’s Indo-Canadian community. Yet to call it a “staged” production betrays its intent. Headline’s method, derived from Boal, creates a dialogue between performer and audience as a way to address social questions. So, a scene is acted out, then replayed. The second time around the audience is invited to stop the action. They can talk about the scene, the characters, even take over a role to show how a new action might lead to a more positive consequence.

You can visit Headline’s website via the sidebar on the right to read more about the company and Here and Now; and have a look at The Globe and Mail’s recent review. It’s a good one, but look at its last paragraph, which condescendingly implies that the production might one day “transcend” its form as political tool to “evolve” into a full-length drama. Kind of like encouraging TS Eliot to keep working at his poetry thing and maybe one day it could be a Broadway musical.

Bond Rates

One writer who uses and reshapes all sorts of genres is Edward Bond. Over his 45-year career, he has written sparse naturalism (Saved), fantasia (Early Morning), restoration comedy (Restoration), farce (The Sea), opera (We Come To The River), tragedy (Lear), dystopian epic (The War Plays), Chekhovian naturalism (Summer) and, more recently the dystopian parable (Have I None). (Although not yet the “tragical-comical-historical-pastoral”.) The Guardian reviews his latest: The Under Room, and a major revival of a Bond masterpiece.

Jolly Well Right

We loved this article in The Financial Times. It’s a swipe at facile political point-scoring, and theatre with ‘a message’, yet lauds the revival of verbatim theatre. Though we don’t agree with everything John Lloyd says, it offers a survey of, and thoughtful response to, the state of political drama in Britain.

Condo Living

Though it has just finished a run at The Centaur, we have to make special mention of David Fennario’s Condoville. Fennario has devoted his career to political drama in this country and we are keen to see more of his work. Here are some links to articles and reviews of both Balconville and Condoville.

• 26 11 2005 - 13:06