Not in My Name
Camden People's Theatre, London

Ion Martea
posted 20 October 2005

Have you ever considered what would you like for your last meal before the death penalty? The director, cast and crew of Theatralia, who are staging Not in My Name , have all considered the option. A selection of French cheeses, various homemade dishes, and abundant expensive drinks, mixed nicely with some simple European breakfast menus, and vegetarian options. No doubt everyone would prefer Francesca Ciardi's choice: 'Something impossible to find, hoping the execution would be postponed indefinitely'.

Not in My Name can be startlingly original and ordinary kitsch, breathtaking and dull, Pandora's unopened box and a rather empty enterprise. Everything depends on where you find its core: art or politics? The director, Filomena Campus, argues that despite being dedicated to the anti-death penalty cause, the desire to make an artistic piece was strong in the project. But it is still hard to defend her success in both areas simultaneously.

Devised as a promenade performance, in which physical horror (often only implied, rather than actually depicted) contributes to a continuous feeling of uneasiness throughout, this is an experience none should be afraid to engage in. The long gaze of the actors at the beginning of the play, followed by a mad advertising campaign, in which obsession with material goods drowns out the news of the conviction of Karla Tucker to capital punishment in the state of Texas in 1998, strip us to our bare morals.

Effective stylised torture scenes, primarily centred on electric chair experiences, do nothing but enhance our feelings of rage towards the injustice imposed by man on man. The closing informal presentation on the rise of death penalty cases in USA under the presidency of George W Bush leaves one with no available answer but a promise not to kill anyone. A tired cast, assured that they have made a change, applaud the victory of reason, the victory of life over death. And the cast is indeed talented in its force and strength over everything that stains the goodness of human kind.

But is there a victory at all, or just a battle lost by an unprepared army? Ultimately, one has to admit the latter. Not in My Name asks us for pity, and as the weak creatures we are, we offer it openheartedly. We promise not to sentence anyone onto death row, we promise that we will not support mad politicians in favour of the punishment. And if this is all the play wanted from its audience, then it succeeds marvellously. But this is the same as promising to love your mother whenever she offers you chocolate and Christmas gifts. The play promises more, but never quite gets there.

Till 30 October 2005.