THEATRE REVIEW: War Of The Worlds - The Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

H.G. Well’s celebrated 1897 novel ‘The War Of The Worlds’ has been the subject of several adaptations for stage, television and cinema with even a hugely successful musical. The Everyman production by Islay Lynn is not one of those adaptations. In fact, the show’s inspiration derives not so much from H.G Wells but Orson Welles, whose contemporary radio version of Well’s story terrified America in 1938, with many listeners believing that a Martian invasion had actually happened. This show is not so much about science fiction as news fiction contrasting the duping of the listeners in 1938 with the plethora of fake new stories which permeate social media today.

This was a minimalist production with a cast of four acting on a bare set with no staging (save a 1930’s radio), a virtual uniform of white shirts and dark trousers and very few special effects. With each actor playing various parts, considerable concentration was often required to determine that a change of character had taken place, with there being no hats or other means of identifying people other than context and voice. This was further complicated with each member of the cast at different times playing Orson Welles. There were some small backdrops of video in the second half but essentially this was a play of voices rather than visual experience.

The real strength of this production of ‘War Of The Worlds’ was the issues examined through the lives of the characters in relation to how we perceive and experience news today. The term ‘fake news’ is often bandied about to describe stories that are essentially fiction and in the case of one the characters, this is the case with made-up stories being put out on social media designed to appear as real. However, spin, context and perspective can all contribute to change a story and with so many outlets today via television, social media, radio and the printed word, it can be hard to determine what is the truth. In ‘War Of The Worlds’, it is only towards the end of the play that everything comes into clear focus and perhaps this mirrors how we typically experience and indeed understand news today.

Orson Welles’s radio production was essentially just entertainment which for some was too realistic in its presentation. What seems to have happened some eighty years on is that news itself now has to have some entertainment value or at least, the television and media companies appear to do their best to turn news into entertainment. This is essentially what Lynn’s play aimed to explore with representations of the Welles’s ‘War Of The Worlds’ acted on stage alongside references to recent events such as, most notably, Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, where the narratives of both have repeatedly changed and even now still have some level of fluidity.

What Orson Welles proved was the power of mass communication to be able to make large numbers of people believe something that had never happened, however absurd or incredibly unlikely that was. Since then, conspiracy theorists have attempted to claim anything from the faking of the moon landing in 1969 to the staging for political purposes of the 911 Twin Towers destruction by the U.S. government.

An interesting show which would perhaps have benefitted from more costuming, staging and effects but nonetheless provided interesting food for thought in showing how far things have developed since 1938 to the point that everyone is now virtually questioning almost everything; perhaps even this review!

Reviewer - John Waterhouse
on - 20.10.21