SLOW DANCE ON THE KILLING GROUND
Greenwich Theatre, London SE10
Opened 11 November, 1991

William Hanley's three-hander, set in a Brooklyn store as the news breaks of Adolf Eichmann's execution, determinedly raises every possible moral question, letting them reverberate one against another and orchestrating the occasional jangles – but never pretending to intimate even the shadows of answers. Whenever a Statement seems imminent, another perspective-shift springs up to derail it.

Lisa Forrell's direction refuses to hurry the script, so an audience needs patience in the initial phases: hip young brigand Randall and concentration-camp survivor Glas must each be established as characters before they can be undermined by gradual revelations and the developing current of interaction. The moral norm is represented (too sketchily) by Rosie, writing a thesis on the camps and having lost her bearings on her way to an abortionist – complications, you see? This overdue British première testifies not just that the world isn't simply black and white, but that the whole visible spectrum is just a fraction of what's out there. Watch and learn.

Written for City Limits magazine.

Copyright © Ian Shuttleworth; all rights reserved.

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