Black Watch
It's often said that we voters have disengaged from mainstream politics - going to the polls in ever smaller numbers and knowing more about the personal life of Amy Winehouse than the policies of our MP. This lack of engagement does not, however, seem to extend to film, theatre and television. This week sees Â鶹Éç One and Channel 4 address the issue of violent crime (a political issue if ever I saw one), with the five-part series Criminal Justice exploring law and order through drama, just as explores street crime. This may not be the same as lobbying Parliament, but it is an attempt to inform and entertain without patronising.
Audiences have certainly been entertained and informed by , a political play produced by the and first performed in 2006. I saw the show at the in London last week and was struck by how powerful it is. The play is about the war in Iraq, but also about what it's like to be a soldier, in particular a soldier in the , the famous Scottish regiment. Instead of arguments over UN resolutions or discussions over the dinner table of the rights and wrongs of the war we see the soldiers struggling with the reality of the conflict. It's a dynamic production, full of movement, music, and funny one-liners. The only actual fighting we see on stage is between the members of the troop, as a way of dissolving tension built up while corralled in the base or in the back of a tightly packed armoured vehicle, but the actors are completely convincing as fighting men. It felt so alien that made me realise how infrequently I've seen groups of young working class men on stage, which in turn made me think about what most excursions to the theatre must be like for these same young men.
I've heard plenty of reports on TV and radio about the amalgamation of the Scottish regiments but none of the coverage had made me realise the strength of feeling about the changes. There's a scene in which one actor recounts the history of the Black Watch while being dressed by his fellow soldiers in the uniform from different periods. For me that said a lot about the production - it both gave you the information you needed, but made it funny, touching and visually interesting. Quite a feat. The one slight misstep for me was a moment when the soldiers receive letters from their families and begin to communicate the contents through sign language. It was a good idea, but it didn't quite convince. Black Watch has now been to Canada, Australia and New Zealand and its next stop is New York. Hopefully more UK runs are to come soon.
Does political theatre make a difference? Perhaps not an immediate and direct difference, but I can't help but feel it indicates that we are willing to be challenged and to think - one in the eye for the apathy cliché.
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