Edinburgh 2002

Fringe

Red, Black and Ignorant (Rouge, Noir et Ignorant)
Southside Theatre

Andrew Chippindale

Watching a piece by a playwright who is considered difficult even in his own language, translated into a language of which one only understands the tiniest proportion, might not be everyone's idea of fun.

Indeed the largely empty auditorium suggests that a lot of other people have had the same thought. This is a shame since there was something completely right about the whole thing: the mostly empty theatre, the style of performance, the play itself -classic latterday Bond in his 'difficult moral parable' mode, this one about a monster, his life, beautiful wife and eventually parricidal son in the army, the fact that it was - at least verbally- incomprehensible, the Hardcore band who provided the music: it all added up to something which felt more vital than exactly the same thing English could have done.

Taken on a basic level, watching performers speak in a language which you do not understand transforms the way in which you view their performances. The speech acts turn from a complex exercise in unraveling meanings and spotting allusions into the most basic recognition of emotion or intent leaving you free to watch the rest of the stagecraft as physical theatre.

It has often been said that British Theatre has a crippling reliance on dialogue and words. So it is fascinating to a see an English play performed by a French company with the words playing such a reduced part. With so many English companies now trying to adopt a more continental approach to theatre and performance it is also excellent to see a company to whom such practices come naturally. The use of the stage, the way the three actors unfussily swapped parts with one another, performing scene or costume changes and taking as long as they felt like in doing it without the usual note of self-congratulation taken when the English attempt the same thing.

There was also a sense of commitment to the performance and immersion in the piece which, if lacking, could have made the thing utterly leaden. It is worrying, though, that such performances suggest that the English have so far still to go before catching up with the infinitely more advanced theatre practice of those on the mainland, even when those performers are presenting material by our own playwrights.

Until 11 August: 21.15 (1hr 30mins)

Red, Black and Ignorant has been pencilled in for discussion at the Institute of Ideas' Round Table Rumbles event on Saturday 10 August, when the theme is The Theatre of War.