BLASTED
Soho Theatre + Writers' Centre, London W1
Opened 18 January, 2007
***
Director Jenny Sealey remarks that the disturbing yet poetic apocalypse
of Sarah Kane's breakthrough play "lent itself perfectly to the 'Graeae
aesthetic'". Indeed, it accommodates the multi-vector approach of
Britain's foremost theatre company to work with people with a range of
physical disabilities, and to explore issues of access and perception.
The cast of three – partially sighted Gerard McDermott, Jennifer-Jay
Ellison whose neuropathy leaves her looking far frailer than her
performance indicates, and David Toole, of whom more later – deliver
not only their lines but many of Kane's stage directions, to aid
theatregoers with poor vision. On a screen behind them, a further set
of performers on video carry out some of the actions whilst also giving
a sign-language interpretation; sometimes, the screen carries captions
of both dialogue and actions. For those of us able to pick and choose
how we follow the play, it offers a rich and fascinating collage.
But this approach brings with it a bizarre paradox. Tackling the same
play in all these different ways at once does not, as you might think,
create extra space for interpretation in performance; instead, it
restricts it. There has to be some kind of consensus between the
various modes of presentation, so that if a particular suggestion can
be made through one medium only, it may not be employed because of a
sense that those taking other sensory routes through the play may miss
out. For example, there is a deeply unsettling moment in this
production when, as part of Kane's nightmare of brutality and social
disintegration, the soldier played by Toole anally rapes McDermott's
loathsome journalist. Toole, who was born without legs, opens one leg
of his trousers and briefly appears to use his stump as a penis. This
image is both deliberate and entirely in grim, powerful harmony with
Kane's vision. But it is a visual image, and without corresponding
moments on the other "channels", it is almost by the by. There are too
few such instances of throwing down the gauntlet to the audience.
Indeed, on press night, the succession of violations, mutilations and
deaths in these 80 minutes almost caused less disquiet than the
relentless racism and bigotry of McDermott's character, at a time when
the surviving racist side of Britain as displayed on reality television
has led to international diplomatic strain.
Written for the Financial Times.
Copyright © Ian Shuttleworth; all rights
reserved.
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