Applecart Arts Centre in the east of our capital has been, over the last two weeks, hosting an online Fringe Theatre festival called Dazed New World. One of the companies performing in this festival was 7th Floor Productions and it was my pleasure to watch their live performance live streamed from Applecart's own Litttlewood Theatre this evening. It was written by Penelope Skinner and called simply, 'Meek'.
In a near dystopian future, with obvious and multifarious deference to George Orwell's 1984, The Spanish Inquisition, and The Handmaid's Tale, we are shown a lady in a prison cell. She has been arrested and is being detained because she has written and performed a song which is supposed to be about the hatred of the Holy Spirit. She has been reported, but we don't know by whom.
The world in which she lives is not dissimilar to our own, but instead of Christianity being a choice that some of us make, there it is the de facto law. There has been a Reformation and those who judge us are now called The Disciples. Anything and everything which even so much as seems to go against the teachings of the Bible and God are forbidden, and if she is found guilty, then, depending on the charge and their leniency, her punishment could range from anything to a public flogging to being stoned to death; a very draconian punishment for 'being a heretic and irreligious'.
It is also a very patriarchal and chauvenist society too, since seemingly all the Disciples are men, and men receive more leniency at trial.
This play then is the story of this woman's time in prison and the outcome of her trial.
With some very truthful and convincing acting from all three actresses involved, it was quite a hard and emotional slow-burner of a play, which teased you with new info-bites with each new scene. And as the word spread of her incarceration and impending trial and possible execution, support groups and protests raged around the world and there was hope that this might be a catalyst for an uprising and the end of this regime. (sound familiar?).
For me though the play ended on stage. The filmed section afterwards in the woods felt extraneous and unnecessary, lengthening the play for no reason, since everything that was spoken about in this filmed section was either already said or implicit in the main body of the play, and it served only to weaken the story and the ending.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 20/10/20
No comments:
Post a Comment