"We need not waste time on the design of the envelope, so long as we trust the document inside"
Politicians thrive on conflict, and there’s nothing like a
threat to national security to get them mounting their high horses but, in the
absence of war, what is there to galvanise them to a cause and show their
mettle?
Recent controversy over the relative willingness of various
political leaders to take part in televised debate
has once again made me despair that the people I want running the country are
the ones with sound policies and the ability to carry them through, not those
who polish up best and make good television personalities. I frankly couldn’t
care less if an MP or a Prime Minister looks smart and has slick answers for
Jeremy Paxman, and I suspect that George Jones would agree with me.
George who? I hear you ask...
David Hare’s play is over 22 years old, but sadly the issues
it raises seem almost more relevant today than when it first appeared shortly
after the failure of Neil Kinnock’s Labour Party to win the 1992 election. Hare
was keen at the time to state that his play was not a portrait of that
election, albeit based on research he did during the campaign. It is nonetheless
very hard not to see it that way in retrospect.
Moreover today’s audience would be forgiven for seeing more
than a few parallels between George Jones and certain other people who are
struggling with their public image as they try to focus on the politics rather
than the packaging.
George Jones is the leader of the opposition in David Hare’s
Labour party, and he is up against Charles Kendrick, Prime Minister, who calls
an election with no notice, throwing Jones’s campaign office into a panic. “You
lot, you’re the maids” he says to his team “And as in Moliere you’re all of a
tizz in order that I may be calm”. The role of the theatre loving party leader
was played in its original incarnation by John Thaw, who famously made his
professional debut on the boards of the Liverpool Playhouse. Reece Dinsdale,
who played Thaw’s on-screen son in Home to Roost, now recreates the part for
this touring revival.
I recall seeing a somewhat younger Mr Dinsdale 32 years ago
in a play with Peter Ustinov, and have been interested to see his face appear
fairly regularly in various guises over the years. He was a jolly good
sparkling wine back then. Nowadays he’s an altogether more full bodied red, and
shows himself as a fine character actor here. George Jones’s heart is in the
right place and he believes passionately in his party’s policies. Problem is
that, by the time he has been through the PR polishing process in which every
member of the team is trained in what to say and how to say it, he seems unable
to remember what those policies are and ends up saying almost nothing.
There is a splendid scene in which he is interviewed by
veteran broadcaster Linus Frank on his election special and crumbles horribly
before our eyes. Linus Frank is played with wonderful gravitas by Don Galloway,
who also fascinatingly doubles as Charles Kendrick, the statesmanlike but
overbearing Prime Minister.
There is an excellent ensemble cast under the breakneck
direction of Jeremy Herrin, and of particular note are very strong performances
from Cyril Nri as political advisor Oliver Dix, Charlotte Lucas as Lindsay
Fontaine, the PR adviser, Maggie McCarthy, George’s diary secretary Gwenda and
James Harkness, his minder Andrew.
As we’d expect from Headlong, who have co-produced this
production with Sheffield Theatres Crucible and Rose Theatre Kingston, there is
very slick use of physical staging, light and sound. Translucent rectilinear
screens and projections rise and fall in Mike Britton’s set and there’s a
proliferation of 1990’s style TV monitors that provide alternative views of the
action as would be seen by a TV audience. Tom Gibbons’ sound design
incorporates some rousing music, including that specified in the text for the
Cenotaph ceremonies, but also some rather chilling allusions to Götterdämmerung.
David Hare’s writing shows once more its enduring currency
and genius and this is a revival that is as finely crafted as it is timely.
In the current tour The Absence of War has already played in
Sheffield, Norwich, Watford, Bristol, and Cheltenham. It runs at Liverpool
Playhouse until Saturday 28th March, after which it will continue as
follows:
Citizen’s Theatre
Glasgow - Tue 31 March – Sat 4 April
Oxford Playhouse -
Wed 8 – Sat 11 April
Rose
Theatre, Kingston - Tue 14 – Sat 25 April
Cambridge Arts Theatre
- Tue 28 April – Sat 2 May
Theatre
Royal Bath - Tue 5th – Sat 9th May
 |
| Don Gallagher and Reece Dinsdale - Photo (c) Mark Douet |
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