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Review by Paul Nelson |
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AT The Pleasance there is a short season of readings, late night cabaret
and debates looking at the way theatre can help us understand the politics
the morality and the pity of war.
Presented by the Caird Company and the Pleasance Theatre the season under
the generic title Playing Soldiers, ends on April 28 and is well worth
checking out.
On Friday (April 12) the reading was Bitter Fruit of Palestine by Richard
Morris.
Coming hot on the heels of the comparatively detached Passion
at the Chelsea Theatre, the play examines the creation of Israel starting
with the attempted extermination of the Jews in Nazi Germany.
It follows the process through to the present conflict between what were,
after all, the indigenous people of Palestine who, having had their land redistributed
originally by the British, found further incursions through the Israeli annexation
of the West Bank.
Morris does not find it difficult to set out the case for both points of view,
clearly, concisely and dramatically, though it seems at first sight that the
Israelis are behaving exactly like the Nazis, this time though with righteousness
on their side.
In a formidable argument the young zealots of Israel eerily echoing Nazism,
ultimately confront the older faith of Jewry in the form of an elder rabbi
who himself was displaced during the 39-45 war. This impact brings the drama
and the arguments to a head and the play to a most dramatic conclusion.
The play eventually, by way of establishing the events of today, gives the
Palestinians its sympathy but with the obvious and dreadful warning that those
in the womb today will inevitably be worse terrorists tomorrow.
The strong dramatic power of the piece is evident, and for those who think
Morris is jumping on an immediately contemporary bandwagon, during an absorbing
short discussion after the reading, the author admitted the play had taken
approximately two years to realise.
The performers of the reading were uniformly matched and admirably conformed
to the director's wishes in under six hours of rehearsal making the event
memorable.
The season is short and well worth the effort, on the part of both the Caird
Company and the audience.
The fascination is to wait and see if Bitter Fruit of Palestine or indeed
any of the other plays from this season will get a full production in the
near future.
Judging by the response from the audience, this one at least deserves such
treatment.
Bitter Fruit of Palestine by Richard Morris. Directed by Ruth Carney.
WITH Alan Williams (Sakini/Kohler/Singer), Sarah Finch (Sara/Golda), William
Osborne (Israel/Rabbi Ben Yehuda), Simon Muller (Dr Katchen/Gestapo Officer/David),
Richard Heap (Interrogator/Heinrich), Charlotte Divers (Rebecca). Presented
by The Caird Company and The Pleasance Theatre at The Pleasance Theatre, Carpenters
Mews, North Road, London N7. 020 7609 1800.
Click here
to go through to the Pleasance Theatre's Playing Soldiers page...
