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Square
One Group: Rock Vanity Vehicle Theatre Company |
| Ravi Bali | |
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At an indefinite time in what seems like an American equivalent to the Britain represented by Airstrip One in Orwell's 1984, a society that has just emerged from a major war, a man and a woman meet. From their first meeting to their courtship and marriage, the couple experiences privation, with dreary totalitarianism a constant backdrop. The relationship between the man and woman, and that between life and art, are the play's major themes. The depersonalised appearance of this society is in part maintained by our never knowing the names of the only two characters we ever see. The man is a state certified artist (third class), an actor with a regular TV spot on the twice weekly patriotic variety hour. Much of the relationship between the couple unfolds on the basis of the woman responding to what he puts into his performances and he continually trying to find ways to improve his work. The dialogue is funny with the characters often talking past each other and not really understanding what the other is saying. As their lives further entwine it becomes clear that for the man at least, life becomes something not to be lived in its own terms but rather is just fodder to enrich his performance. All experience for him, no matter how awful or traumatic, serves the purpose of feeding his ambition to one day become a state certified artist second class. The woman complains that 'art intimidates life' and the man, misunderstanding her point, corrects her twisting of the cliché back to "no, art imitates life". A fascinating idea that art in some sense substitutes for life rather than being a reflection on it. When the couple move into a state-run housing cooperative block where everyone, including the building's maintenance staff, is an artist of some sort, the oppressive lack of freedom is always palpable, with often subtle references to the expectations that everyone will conform. The humour is often bleak with the comic touches emphasising the grim nature of the society we are seeing. This is a well-written and thought-provoking play with solid performances from both actors, and deserves much bigger audiences than it has been getting, not being included in the main fringe festival programme. 1 August to 25 August.
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