Eclipse
at Roman Eagle Lodge (Venue 21), Edinburgh

Graham Lee

Eclipse, a new play by Ben Dickenson, traces the fallout from the 1980s on the lives of four sons of a left-wing miner, Bob (all played by David Howard).

They meet up on the anniversary of his death and the previous year's solar eclipse. They are all portrayed as the victims of change: former miner Franky cannot adapt 'transferable skills', Tommy is facing the closure of his car plant; meanwhile, Art and Bill have become disillusioned with the Labour movement which has treated their allegiance with scarcely-concealed contempt. As Franky puts it, describing New Labour as he degenerates into alcoholism, crime and self-pity, 'you have to crush the old to see in the new.'

The play is weakest in trying to accord heroic status to the victims of the drama. The play invites us to conclude that we are not just watching 'piteous boring cliches', but men who achieved real vitality in raging against the dying of the light. However, the romanticisation of the horny-handed sons of toil of yore in the play is itself cliched and unimaginative. None of the characters is given a voice of their own, but they are all used as mere mouthpieces in a shrill and crude agit-prop tirade against the evils of Thatcherism.