“The whole thing, from staging, lighting to
performances, was absolutely amazing.”
Other terrific part was the unnecessary killing of a refugee sheep
(Charlotte Pell: a great performance) as Napoleon wanted to show
his power. When he asked to choose if she would rather confess to
being a traitor or if her family should be ‘asked’ instead, the relevance
to today and to such murderous games in the recent past was vivid.
One of the many things which made this production so powerful
was the choice of music. The director packed it with obscure gospel
from the early 20th Century. The programme notes explained
that this was “the music of the oppressed” and of hope at the same
time. Hearing authentic field recordings of slaves on a chain gang
made scenes such as the construction of the windmill in the snow
(yes, it snowed!) very moving.
At the end of the play the cast reassembled and sang to us, bringing
everyone to their feet joining in. We’d heard the Beasts of England as
a brilliant gospel but this one was a crowd pleasing clapalong and
brought the play to a triumphant ending.
It was like no play we had ever seen before, brilliantly written
and directed and performed in a way that left us emotionally
exhausted and wanting more.
Congratulations to the Drama
department and the whole
team, backstage and onstage.
An unforgettable experience!
DW
“A play for our times. Everything
was relevant. Every bit of it.
I could see Trump, Nigeria,
Stalin, Hitler, Brexit, religious
persecution. It was astonishing
and we can’t stop talking about
it at home.”
THE POCKLINGTONIAN
85