Dolan Cummings
posted 12 May 2005

If the 2005 UK general election had been a play, the reviews would have been stinkers. The plot was predictable and the denouement unsatisfying, the acting was leaden and the direction utterly incoherent and lacking in imagination. And if there was a political message, it was a deeply conservative one.

But political pundits are more forgiving than their theatrical counterparts, and tend to take the script as given, quibbling only over delivery and set design. For all the complaints about the lack of fireworks, and concerns over the poor house, expectations of the election were low to start with, and the same goes for British politics in general. It's taken for granted. However bad it might be, then, this show is not about to close, and whatever some critics say, a change in the lead is unlikely to perk things up.

Nonetheless, comparisons with Michael Frayn's Democracy, which had to close ahead of schedule on Broadway last month because of a lack of interest, are instructive. As Philip Cunliffe argues in his essay Democracy Bores, Frayn captures the apolitical character of postwar German politics, and the resulting salience of charisma and populism in the person of Willy Brandt. If West German politics were artificially staid during the Cold War, it could be argued that subsequent events brought the real world into line, with politicians like Clinton and Blair taking on the mantle of Brandt. But charisma doesn't sustain itself for long, and it seems that New Yorkers were unimpressed by Frayn's vision of post-political democracy.

Whatever the merits of the play (and there is no doubt about its success in London last year), politics without big ideas really is bad box office, as is evidenced by indifferent turnout across the Western world. Perhaps New York audiences would prefer Deborah Warner's production of Julius Caesar, which goes on tour in Europe after its Barbican run, and features a more action-packed version of politics. As Ursula Strauss discusses in her review, the various characters personify the vagaries of political style in a relatively timeless way, dramatising the interpersonal dynamics of power rather than capturing a particular moment.

If Julius Caesar is a political play, then, it is a different kind of political play than celebrated recent works like Stuff Happens or Guantanamo, which take positions on the events of the day. Current shows like Two Into War and National Alien Office similarly make theatre of contemporary issues in various ways and with varying degrees of success. (Theatre is not alone: two art projects recently reviewed on Culture Wars, Küba and On the Road to a Miracle have a similarly political character.)

At an Institute of Ideas pre-election debate at Greenwich Theatre, Where is the Real Opposition? (now streamed online at theatreVOICE) there was some discussion of how valid the arts are as political media, and whether they can fill the gap left by the diminishment of party politics. Of course everybody knows that going to see a play is not the same as being politically active; the question is what role the arts can play. Some argue that high profile plays at the National Theatre are less important in this regard than grassroots community theatre, involving young people from ethnic minorities, for example. But there surely is something to be said for theatre that is political in content as well in form.

That doesn't have to mean theatre with a message. The current Paines Plough season at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London explores issues of national identity, and especially language, in various often subtle ways. Douglas Maxwell's If Destroyed True could be seen as a satire on community regeneration, but more generally highlights the atomisation and loneliness of contemporary existence. This perhaps brings us back to the general election and the lack of big ideas to cohere society and bring a sense of purpose to people's lives. Hans Weingartner's film The Edukators examines this frustration by following the fortunes of three idealistic young people trying to change the world without any realistic means of doing so. It's a German film, reminding us again that the Germans got here first.

The best new writing makes a connection between the time in which it is written and the human experience more generally, and this is intrinsically political. It may be that one of the defining characteristics of our own period is the weakness of that connection, the sense of being adrift rather than part of a story, whether rooted in tradition or written ourselves. This is obviously a challenge for writers in any medium, but it is a worthwhile one and it is likely to emerge in various discussions at the Battle of Ideas festival in London at the end of October. Culture Wars will be taking part in the Battle for Culture strand in particular, and further details will appear on the site soon.