Apologia
Bush Theatre, London
Everything Must Go!
Soho Theatre, London
It’s now more than 40 years since 1968, the “Year of Revolutions”. For all those who were inspired by the momentous events in Paris, Berlin, Berkeley and even London, life could never be the same again. Yet memories of student and worker radicalism have now been effectively silenced by our obsessions with shopping and reality television, our fear of terror and a pervading sense of economic gloom.
So we should thank Alexi Kaye Campbell for raising the issue of the heritage of 1968 in his compelling new play, Apologia. The first thing that strikes you in his choice of form: the family reunion play. Family reunion plays always offer an implicit criticism of parenting – after all, without generational antagonism, there would be no drama.
Set during the birthday party of 60-something Kristin, a successful art historian who was a radical firebrand in the student revolutionary movements of the late 1960s, the plot shows what happens when her grown-up sons, Peter and Simon, arrive with their partners, American Christian Trudi and Brit soap star Claire.
While Kristin is still a passionate advocate of political change, she has paid the price in her private life. Divorced by her husband, deprived of the custody of her children, she now has to face their accumulated anger. But as they complain of her deficiencies as a mother, she fights back, exposing their selfish values. And, interestingly, it’s the women, Trudi and Claire, who attract particularly withering fire from this feminist socialist.
So while it is true that the experiments of the 68ers with new forms of relationships did cost their kids dear, surely they have not been more screwed up than the children of any other decade? And, as this piece beautifully illustrates, the most successful of the many revolutions that began in the early 1970s was the feminist revolution.
This is a well-written, humorous and deeply-felt drama, with an exquisite scene in which Kristin removes shards of glass from Simon’s hand while he tells a heartrending story about his abandonment as a boy. Campbell clearly understands the psychology of mutual recrimination and how we have lost the spirit that made the 1960s so exciting.
At the same time, Campbell tries much too hard to be fair to all his characters and the writing is a bit too polite. As one of the minor characters says, the English would “rather have a limb amputated than make a scene”. This has the paradoxical effect of making you long for more emotional speeches, as well as for a clearer distinction between goodies and baddies.
Directed with great clarity and emotional depth by Josie Rourke, the play focuses on Paola Dionisotti’s Kristin, who is both fragile and feisty, admirable and pitiful. Well supported by Tom Beard and John Light as her aggrieved sons, with Sarah Goldberg as the naive but redemptive Trudi and Nina Sosanya as the feisty Claire, the cast is rounded off by Philip Voss as Kristin’s old comrade. As a critique of past illusions that also questions the current malaise, Apologia needs no apology.
Similarly insightful is Everything Must Go! This is an evening of 10 short pieces written as a response to the current economic crisis. Taken together, they offer a nice mix of wit and anguish, apocalyptic angst and sharp critique. Highlights include Oladipo Agboluaje’s Set Piece, Marisa Carnesky’s use of stage magic to demonstrate mortgage madness, Ron McCants’ account of an American miner, Megan Barker’s satire on the casino economy and Kay Adshead’s savage account of a murderous homeless family.
Although theatre can never be as immediate as journalism or Twitter, it can offer thought-provoking and occasionally inspiring nuggets about our present woes. Deftly directed by Lisa Goldman, Everything Must Go! is thought-provoking and imaginative. It all makes you wish that the spirit of 1968 was more widely diffused in society – and not just in the theatre. l
Aleks Sierz
Theatre
Apologia
Bush Theatre, London
Everything Must Go!
Soho Theatre, London
It’s now more than 40 years since 1968, the “Year of Revolutions”. For all those who were inspired by the momentous events in Paris, Berlin, Berkeley and even London, life could never be the same again. Yet memories of student and worker radicalism have now been effectively silenced by our obsessions with shopping and reality television, our fear of terror and a pervading sense of economic gloom.
So we should thank Alexi Kaye Campbell for raising the issue of the heritage of 1968 in his compelling new play, Apologia. The first thing that strikes you in his choice of form: the family reunion play. Family reunion plays always offer an implicit criticism of parenting – after all, without generational antagonism, there would be no drama.
Set during the birthday party of 60-something Kristin, a successful art historian who was a radical firebrand in the student revolutionary movements of the late 1960s, the plot shows what happens when her grown-up sons, Peter and Simon, arrive with their partners, American Christian Trudi and Brit soap star Claire.
While Kristin is still a passionate advocate of political change, she has paid the price in her private life. Divorced by her husband, deprived of the custody of her children, she now has to face their accumulated anger. But as they complain of her deficiencies as a mother, she fights back, exposing their selfish values. And, interestingly, it’s the women, Trudi and Claire, who attract particularly withering fire from this feminist socialist.
So while it is true that the experiments of the 68ers with new forms of relationships did cost their kids dear, surely they have not been more screwed up than the children of any other decade? And, as this piece beautifully illustrates, the most successful of the many revolutions that began in the early 1970s was the feminist revolution.
This is a well-written, humorous and deeply-felt drama, with an exquisite scene in which Kristin removes shards of glass from Simon’s hand while he tells a heartrending story about his abandonment as a boy. Campbell clearly understands the psychology of mutual recrimination and how we have lost the spirit that made the 1960s so exciting.
At the same time, Campbell tries much too hard to be fair to all his characters and the writing is a bit too polite. As one of the minor characters says, the English would “rather have a limb amputated than make a scene”. This has the paradoxical effect of making you long for more emotional speeches, as well as for a clearer distinction between goodies and baddies.
Directed with great clarity and emotional depth by Josie Rourke, the play focuses on Paola Dionisotti’s Kristin, who is both fragile and feisty, admirable and pitiful. Well supported by Tom Beard and John Light as her aggrieved sons, with Sarah Goldberg as the naive but redemptive Trudi and Nina Sosanya as the feisty Claire, the cast is rounded off by Philip Voss as Kristin’s old comrade. As a critique of past illusions that also questions the current malaise, Apologia needs no apology.
Similarly insightful is Everything Must Go! This is an evening of 10 short pieces written as a response to the current economic crisis. Taken together, they offer a nice mix of wit and anguish, apocalyptic angst and sharp critique. Highlights include Oladipo Agboluaje’s Set Piece, Marisa Carnesky’s use of stage magic to demonstrate mortgage madness, Ron McCants’ account of an American miner, Megan Barker’s satire on the casino economy and Kay Adshead’s savage account of a murderous homeless family.
Although theatre can never be as immediate as journalism or Twitter, it can offer thought-provoking and occasionally inspiring nuggets about our present woes. Deftly directed by Lisa Goldman, Everything Must Go! is thought-provoking and imaginative. It all makes you wish that the spirit of 1968 was more widely diffused in society – and not just in the theatre.
Aleks Sierz
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