At a time when perceptions of normal life are challenged almost daily, newly formed Leeds’s People’s Theatre has boldly chosen to premiere a short 30 minute film produced by Slung Low. Set in the near future with echoes of Malorie Blackman’s 'Noughts And Crosses' and other dystopian dramas, 'The Good Book' depicts a society that is divided between loyalists of the powerful Queen Bear and the radical followers of Galahad.
Imagery associated with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table abounds in this interesting but often confusing and flawed film. With a nod to Arthurian legend the heroine is a young woman called Avalon. Desperate not to appear to take sides as a Civil War unfolds around her she is given the dangerous task of saving a precious relic from destruction. How or why she has been chosen to undertake this role is frustratingly never revealed.
As in many films and TV dramas set in the present time and the future most of the narrative is communicated by text and video messaging. Avalon is shown sharing these with an unnamed friend who lives in a faraway country which mercifully appears to be free of tyranny and autocratic rule. From these short exchanges we learn that the escalation of the Civil War is imminent and that Avalon is summoned to a library to rescue the relic, revealed to be an ancient book. On arriving at the library she is met by supporters of the regime who cry, “Purity Perfection,” demanding that all books be burned. Into the drama enter two shadowy characters, one called Vivian who appears to be a supporter of the regime and a mysterious young male who sets out to befriend Avalon but is not all that he claims to be.
Writer James Phillips has previously collaborated with Slung Low on several dystopian dramas including the much lauded, 'Flood', which was a critically acclaimed centre piece of Hull’s UK City of Culture. As much as I tried to like Phillips’ script I was unable to warm to it, the characters are two dimensional and speak dialogue which no doubt was written to sound worthy but instead comes across as banal and cliché-ridden. I could have accepted this and enjoyed the film had it not been for the baffling inclusion of extracts from Milton’s, 'Areopagitica' and Shelly’s 'Prometheus Unbound', which without looking them up on Google I would not have known what they were. With the benefit of this newly acquired knowledge I assume that Phillips chose to include them to serve as a call to arms to uphold the right to freedom of speech. This is indeed a noble gesture but one that may unfortunately go unnoticed by many of the people watching his film.
Reservations about the script aside there is a lot to commend about this film. Director Brett Chapman handles the action scenes with great aplomb and draws out solid performances from his three leads, Rina Duce, Angus Imrie and Katie Eldred. The scenes involving the large community cast fighting in a pub and rioting outside a library are truly gripping and had me on the edge of my seat. Heather Fenoughty’s exquisite and ravishing score brilliantly captures the tension of the unfolding drama and is undoubtedly the standout feature of the film.
Leeds People’s Theatre has been created by Slung Low to make epic performance work in Leeds. They clearly have a very impressive track record in producing work that involves large numbers of participants and I hope very much that based on watching this film that they will go on to make bigger and better ones. Maybe future work could dispel with dystopian themes and instead focus on showcasing stories from the communities that they work with. If they do this I will be first in the queue to watch their next film.
Reviewer - Richard Hall
on - 30/4/20
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