|
Our international correspondent Letters from Cambridge:
|
 |
"
Can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? Or may we cram
Within this wooden
O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
...tis your thoughts
that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there, jumping o'er times,
Turning the accomplishment of many years
Into an hourglass."
Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 1 Scene i
In England, as in the USA, we live with
a questionable luxury which makes it possible to ignore politics - be it global warming
or the increasingly frightening crisis in Israel and the West Bank, or even the day
to day events in one's own community. However, it is these events and processes -
seen and unseen - which shape our lives to such a great extent and which the theatre
has an incredible ability to encompass. In fact, I would argue, it is the duty of
the theatre to render them visible, to make connections between our private and public
lives, to incorporate the wider world into the smallest of spaces, into the most
private of stories. To be sure, the role of theatre in society has changed much in
the 400 years since Shakespeare wrote Henry V. But if one looks at the work of Dario
Fo, the Market Theatre of Johannesburg, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Tony Kushner,
Caryl Churchill, to name but a few, we see excellent examples of political events
and processes being brought to the stage in creative and engaging ways.
This coming July, Menagerie Theatre Company from Cambridge, a small city in the East
of England famous for its university and little else, will host a festival of new
writing for the theatre. We will commission plays from nationally recognized playwrights,
run a 3 month workshop for local writers culminating in each contributing a 10 minute
monologue to the festival, create a new play in 24 hours, present a work in progress
of our own new piece, as well as countless other workshops, performances and forums
all dedicated to new writing.
I look for playwrights whose characters' concerns go beyond the confines of a living
room or their own love life. I look for plays that put characters within a social
and political context, offering questions and viewpoints on pressing public issues.
However, arguing the case for political writers does not mean they have to engage
in agit-prop or be simplistic in either their content or style. If we take the example
of one of the most popular, intelligent and remarkable pieces of theatre of the last
decade, Tony Kushner's Angels in America, we have a case in point. On one level,
it is a play about the impact of the AIDS crisis on certain real and fictional characters.
On another level, it is about the fragility and betrayal of trust within an intimate
relationship. On yet another, it is about Mormons, Roy Cohn and angels crashing through
the roof at the moment of death. It is a massive piece of work which "crams
within the wooden O" the moral and political forces which were at play in 1980's
America in a humane, often hilarious and very moving fashion.
Such works only come along once in a
while and I am not expecting all future plays to be its carbon copy. But it has become
even more necessary in these bellicose times to support and nurture playwrights who
are moved to comment on public issues or question the political status quo. As I
write, the leaders of our countries, George Bush and Tony Blair, are meeting to discuss
the planned attack on Iraq. Don't take me as being an arrogant Brit when I say that
I have more confidence that Blair can be enticed away from this course than can Bush,
though at the moment both seem intent on "action". Bush is still riding
the post-9/11 popularity wave which leaves him relatively immune to criticism, while
Blair is being heavily criticised for his unquestioning support of America, both
from within his own party and in the media and is therefore not in as tenable a position.
These two leaders are discussing the possibility of a terrifying war in Iraq which
could cost many thousands of lives. Are we reduced to being mere bystanders, bit
players in the drama that is unfolding? I fear so. But I'm not calling for an immediate
play about the current crisis. I merely state that the political and governing class
need to know that we watch and make judgements on their actions and the theatre is
one public arena where such activities take place. It is the arena in which we play
out fantasies, rehearse dreams, and observe our world refracted and distilled through
the playwright's pen.
With all this in mind, then, the plays that we bring to our festival in July must
be large of mind, deep of vision, and engaging in spirit. They must be bursting at
the seams with questions, ideas, hopes and fears. Ultimately, they must offer the
uniqueness of the theatre experience which is to bring "the vasty fields of
France" into one thousand square feet of stage.
Patrick Morris is Associate Director of Menagerie Theatre Company, Cambridge,
England. He can be contacted at patrick@menagerie.uk.com and the company
website is www.menagerie.uk.com.