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The Island Nation
Arcola Theatre, Dalston, 3 November 2016 Review by Yasmin Mo, International Relations and Philosophy student Set in the last years of the civil war in Sri Lanka, this shocking and moving play by theatre company ice&fire focuses on a young Tamil woman called Nila who is trapped in rebel-held territory. Her home is being torn apart by airstrikes and she is hiding in a bunker while her friend and British aid worker Rebecca desperately tries to get her out. The play highlights the clashes between the government, rebel fighters and, in particular, the failures of the UN in protecting civilians from the war crimes committed by all parties involved in the war. The intimate positioning of the audience and the haunting start of the play set the mood for the next hour and a half as various harrowing video clips of the brutal war were projected one after the other, loudly and unapologetically on the main screen on stage. The rest of the play delivered what could only be described as a devastatingly honest portrayal of the ‘forgotten’ civil war, raising political and emotional awareness on the inabilities of the UN, the torture crimes by the government that are still happening today and the personal stories of real people who lived through these centuries of bloodshed. |
Island Nation Q&A. Photo: Yasmin Mo
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The night we attended, there was a Q&A after the show with Frances Harrison, journalist and author of Still Counting the Dead, and Ann Hannah, International Advocate and Researcher at the charity Freedom from Torture. Three citizens from Tamil also went on stage to answer questions about their experiences during the war and how it has affected them to this day. They each discussed their perspectives of the 26-year war, encouraging the audience to take action against war crimes and government torture, reminding us all that we must not forget that the war may be over but the conflict is not.
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I, Daniel Blake
Touring selected cinemas in the UK Review by Stephanie Mehanna, MA DEP student Ken Loach does it again with his fierce, gritty fictional portrait of bureaucratic rigmarole, systemic poverty and the continued isolation of those in need. Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival this year, I, Daniel Blake tells the story of a recently widowed skilled carpenter, who after suffering a heart attack at work, is advised by his Cardiologist to take it easy and not go back to his job on a building site just yet. |
A combination of his down-to-earth Northern stubbornness, his lack of confidence and experience in interview situations, and the severe disadvantage of being IT illiterate now that “everything is online”, leaves Daniel Blake lost in the benefits abyss. When questioned by a DWP ‘Health Professional’ his honest account of his physical abilities elicits the only laugh from the audience in 100 minutes, “there is nothing wrong with my arse love, its my heart”, but humour doesn’t have a checkbox on the DWP form and he is deemed to be ‘fit for work’ and not entitled to vital Employment and Support Allowance. While his appeal waits somewhere in a vault with thousands of others, his only option is to apply for Job Seeker’s Allowance, another online form. With the help of his young, entrepreneurial neighbours, a storyline never really fully explored, he gets his allowance but has to prove his continued attempts to find employment. His old-fashioned, hand-written CV and untraceable job-hunting on the streets of Newcastle isn’t what the box-ticking, if stereotypical, Job Centre interviewer wants to hear, and his allowance is sanctioned, leaving him with nothing, literally. 59 year old Daniel’s obvious disbelief at the repeated inability of any DWP or Job Centre employee to make a decision, or take responsibility for any decision-making, is depressingly recognisable, even if you have only ever sat waiting on the phone for your broadband company. Nothing seems to be within their power and has to be pushed up to a “decision-maker”, a role we never see but for me will always have 4 sets of teeth, sharp spines and makes me want to shave my head like Sigourney Weaver and take up arms.
It's at the grey and oppressive job centre with its flimsy, felt covered cubicles, harsh lighting and intimidating doormen (Tony Soprano would have been proud), Daniel meets Katie, played to perfection by the amazing Hayley Squires. Katie is one of many single mothers relocated out of London by her local authority to cheaper accommodation, regardless of the emotional turmoil leaving friends and family and taking children out of school may bring to an already stressful situation. Daniel stands up for the feisty Katie, who, like him rebels against the UK’s draconian benefits system. He becomes a genuine friend and supporter to her and her young children. There are some heartwarming scenes where Daniel uses his skills to help Katie keep her children warm as she has to choose between having enough food or money for the electric meter every day.
The almost primal, exposed performance of Daniel by stand-up comic, scriptwriter and actor Dave Johns grounds the film and allows the other characters, and the audience, to connect with his character's loss of self-esteem and dignity. Paul Laverty’s screenplay delivers all the way, making some moments almost too difficult to watch. The proud Katie's sheer desperation and humiliation at the local food bank is almost unbearable to watch. Its brutal, be prepared.
Shame then that this masterpiece couldn’t just have been a little more objective. Whilst everyone Daniel comes in contact with outside of the system are kind and understanding to Daniel’s plight, the one-dimensional DWP staff present as though their previous work experience was manning the phones at Auschwitz, well bar one who means well but is too weak to inspire any real empathy. A shame because we didn’t explore the reasoning behind Daniel's Fit For Work assessment results and this could have dealt with this so easily. It left an uneasy question mark in my head: could Daniel have worked in a non-labour intensive role maybe, or could he have helped himself by selling those lovely full-size bookcases he makes for Katie? I am not saying he should, but it would have been good to give the DWP/Job Centre staff their voice.
Loach has been accused of idealism and propaganda before and lets face it there is hefty scoop of both in this work. But I, Daniel Blake is a must see, not just for lefties, in fact its a tragedy it probably won’t be seen by anyone else. There was silence as we left our seats, too much that needed to be said paired with the knowledge that nobody is listening...
It's at the grey and oppressive job centre with its flimsy, felt covered cubicles, harsh lighting and intimidating doormen (Tony Soprano would have been proud), Daniel meets Katie, played to perfection by the amazing Hayley Squires. Katie is one of many single mothers relocated out of London by her local authority to cheaper accommodation, regardless of the emotional turmoil leaving friends and family and taking children out of school may bring to an already stressful situation. Daniel stands up for the feisty Katie, who, like him rebels against the UK’s draconian benefits system. He becomes a genuine friend and supporter to her and her young children. There are some heartwarming scenes where Daniel uses his skills to help Katie keep her children warm as she has to choose between having enough food or money for the electric meter every day.
The almost primal, exposed performance of Daniel by stand-up comic, scriptwriter and actor Dave Johns grounds the film and allows the other characters, and the audience, to connect with his character's loss of self-esteem and dignity. Paul Laverty’s screenplay delivers all the way, making some moments almost too difficult to watch. The proud Katie's sheer desperation and humiliation at the local food bank is almost unbearable to watch. Its brutal, be prepared.
Shame then that this masterpiece couldn’t just have been a little more objective. Whilst everyone Daniel comes in contact with outside of the system are kind and understanding to Daniel’s plight, the one-dimensional DWP staff present as though their previous work experience was manning the phones at Auschwitz, well bar one who means well but is too weak to inspire any real empathy. A shame because we didn’t explore the reasoning behind Daniel's Fit For Work assessment results and this could have dealt with this so easily. It left an uneasy question mark in my head: could Daniel have worked in a non-labour intensive role maybe, or could he have helped himself by selling those lovely full-size bookcases he makes for Katie? I am not saying he should, but it would have been good to give the DWP/Job Centre staff their voice.
Loach has been accused of idealism and propaganda before and lets face it there is hefty scoop of both in this work. But I, Daniel Blake is a must see, not just for lefties, in fact its a tragedy it probably won’t be seen by anyone else. There was silence as we left our seats, too much that needed to be said paired with the knowledge that nobody is listening...
Flat 73
Old Fire Station, Oxford, 8 October 2016
Review by Harry Tuke, MArchD student
Flat 73 is a play by Human Story Theatre Company. It is set in Battersby Buildings, which has 75 flats and yet very few people know each other. There’s Beryl, 68, and recently widowed; Chelsea, a new mum at 18; and Simon, a young man with learning disabilities. There is also Laura, a Samaritan, living in Flat 73, who on one fateful day unknowingly brings them all together.In the festival we are thinking about ‘Home’ and what struck me in Flat 73 was the fact that common to all the characters in the play, they experienced loneliness the most when in their homes, the setting for much of the play.
What does it mean when we feel lonely even in our own homes? This seems the saddest to me, that while we all appreciate our homes’ safety and ‘homeliness’ it gives us; nostalgia and the heavy presence of our past can haunt us, especially when we’re alone. Be it Beryl’s picture of her late husband always at hand, or Simon and the scarf and trinkets of his mum who passed away. In Chelsea’s case, it was less memory and more being trapped with her day-to-day struggle looking after her 18 month old Albie without any support.
However it is the main character Laura who joins them all in her work for Samaritans. For her memory was all the more damaging, we learn of a very troubled past, worryingly suppressed as we discover.
The platform is also an intriguing model for awareness-raising. It was actually Pay-As-You-Feel theatre, where people book tickets for free and can pay what they want at the end depending on how much they like it (a model which has been applied to restaurants and other sectors recently). This makes it an accessible form of arts as well as bringing issues home to us in a personal way, with stories very close to home. In this case I can imagine the people down the road from me, or in the same apartment block in this case.
Whilst it wasn’t specifically commissioned by Samaritans or AgeUK, the writer did extensive research to make it highly realistic. My housemate and I, with fairly little knowledge of the Samaritans, were surprised at how limited they are in the advice they can give. They really are just a friendly ear in times of need, not allowed to ask or pass on any private information. It could almost be a human right: to deserve to be listened to, day-to-day and in the most extreme case for Samaritans where they are simply there to speak to people in their last moments before suicide (Suicide being the main concern for Samaritans). One point in discussion afterwards was the fact that we all need to grieve or take a break, especially for the Samaritans exposed to such intense emotional issues, however well trained they are for it and want to continue giving support. Laura was was convinced other people were more in need than her, even when she was clearly struggling.
I loved the minimal scenography, with the most basic costumes and not much more than stools and the four doors to the apartments that managed to evoke clear images of the homes. It is a very young theatre company and I hope they go from strength to strength!
Old Fire Station, Oxford, 8 October 2016
Review by Harry Tuke, MArchD student
Flat 73 is a play by Human Story Theatre Company. It is set in Battersby Buildings, which has 75 flats and yet very few people know each other. There’s Beryl, 68, and recently widowed; Chelsea, a new mum at 18; and Simon, a young man with learning disabilities. There is also Laura, a Samaritan, living in Flat 73, who on one fateful day unknowingly brings them all together.In the festival we are thinking about ‘Home’ and what struck me in Flat 73 was the fact that common to all the characters in the play, they experienced loneliness the most when in their homes, the setting for much of the play.
What does it mean when we feel lonely even in our own homes? This seems the saddest to me, that while we all appreciate our homes’ safety and ‘homeliness’ it gives us; nostalgia and the heavy presence of our past can haunt us, especially when we’re alone. Be it Beryl’s picture of her late husband always at hand, or Simon and the scarf and trinkets of his mum who passed away. In Chelsea’s case, it was less memory and more being trapped with her day-to-day struggle looking after her 18 month old Albie without any support.
However it is the main character Laura who joins them all in her work for Samaritans. For her memory was all the more damaging, we learn of a very troubled past, worryingly suppressed as we discover.
The platform is also an intriguing model for awareness-raising. It was actually Pay-As-You-Feel theatre, where people book tickets for free and can pay what they want at the end depending on how much they like it (a model which has been applied to restaurants and other sectors recently). This makes it an accessible form of arts as well as bringing issues home to us in a personal way, with stories very close to home. In this case I can imagine the people down the road from me, or in the same apartment block in this case.
Whilst it wasn’t specifically commissioned by Samaritans or AgeUK, the writer did extensive research to make it highly realistic. My housemate and I, with fairly little knowledge of the Samaritans, were surprised at how limited they are in the advice they can give. They really are just a friendly ear in times of need, not allowed to ask or pass on any private information. It could almost be a human right: to deserve to be listened to, day-to-day and in the most extreme case for Samaritans where they are simply there to speak to people in their last moments before suicide (Suicide being the main concern for Samaritans). One point in discussion afterwards was the fact that we all need to grieve or take a break, especially for the Samaritans exposed to such intense emotional issues, however well trained they are for it and want to continue giving support. Laura was was convinced other people were more in need than her, even when she was clearly struggling.
I loved the minimal scenography, with the most basic costumes and not much more than stools and the four doors to the apartments that managed to evoke clear images of the homes. It is a very young theatre company and I hope they go from strength to strength!
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BEING (T)HERE
Wonder Inn, Manchester, 21 October 2016 I only managed to catch the first night of screenings of the MA Visual Anthropology students at the University of Manchester, but what I saw was entertaining, amusing, moving, and thought provoking, surely everything that can be expected of films. Each, in their own way, touched on our own theme of HOME. The first was Jemma O'Brien's A Dame's Tale, which started life as an understated study of a retirement complex in Manchester, documenting the lives of residents, pottering in their communal garden, in their twilight years. However it very quickly became evident that it was to be a tragi-comic celebration of the life of drag queen Gracy as she came to terms with the loss of close friends to AIDS and her own way of coping with her diagnosis (gardening, and pints of gin and Vimto!) |
Image: Samantha Steele.
LGBT Asylum Seekers at Liverpool Pride.
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The second was Alice Duffy's intimate exploration of family life following her father's head injury in A Life Made Strange. In it she looks at how her dad's condition has affected his perception of both their physical home and their family. Through clever use of animation and focusing on specific elements she successfully attempts to represent the overwhelming sensations he has around the seemingly simplest of tasks, such as taking a fork from the cutlery drawer in the kitchen. The final film of the evening was Almut Dieden's Facing Fears, in which she collaborates with Jackie, a woman who has survived rape, drug abuse, the death of her sister and nephew, and sex work. This intensely moving piece challenges and humanises so many stereotypes surrounding race, gender, and drug use, and Jackie's drive for positivity not just towards her adopted children, but for all women makes a what could have been a bleak story uplifting and inspirational. The exhibition, including Samantha Steele's (above) portrayal of LGBT asylum seekers in the UK, and Anna Pozzali's This Is My Home, looking at age friendly cities and the meaning of home to older people, also explored the idea of home from many different angles.
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B!RTH
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, 20 October 2016 "Women bring life, men bring death," so the introduction to the event went. A generalisation, of course, but one which resonated deeply with the characters in the first play, Q&Q, about three Syrian women defined by their child or lack thereof. What's it like when you're a refugee walking across Europe, traveling at night through forests and uneven ground and you get your period? What's it like when your daughter is taken away from you because the father automatically has legal custody? What's it like when you don't know who the father is because your daughter was conceived when you were raped? These unimaginably painful experiences were recounted with a rawness, a brutal minimality, straight from the book, leaving the audience visibly moved. |
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The second play, Orchid, dealt with the stigma, often leading to complete social ostracisation, of the post childbrith condition fistula. "Communities can be cruel," observed chair Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in the GuardianLive debate which followed the plays. She pointed out that testimony led plays, such as these were particularly moving because life is more tragic and unpredictable than art could ever dream up. The discussion centred around the issue which comes up in our committee discussions year after year, yes storytelling is a powerful tool in attitude change, but can and does it affect law?
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