On Plays, Politics and (yes them again) Polar Bears.
Originally published at Tom Pollock. Please leave any comments there.
So a couple of days ago I went to see Greenland at the National TheatreParts of the UK Press have panned it. I thought it was funny, well-acted and beautifully designed. So who’s right?
Well, me obviously.
But why have the critics slapped it down so hard? The Telegraph called it “shrill” with no other purpose than to “Nag, and bully us”.
This is a pretty common reaction when a certain sort of folk go to see a piece of political art. They feel hectored, and ambushed and under attack. It’s as though the theatre was the last place on earth that they might expect to encounter a political point. Hell, I feel that way sometimes too, when faced with a polemic, pretending to be a story, like I opened the door to the pizza delivery guy and found themselves on the receiving end of a rant about saturated fats.
So we hunker down into fortified positions, and chew the ends of the pens that are our only defence and say: ‘Don’t yell at me, it’s not my fault!’
But guys, really. That’s not the point. These stories aren’t about accusing, it’s about getting us to care.
For me, Greenland didn’t hector it’s audience. It wasn’t about pointing fingers. It was about the people caught up in the global-warming frenzy, and it was pretty balanced. We were shown the costs of caring both too little and too much, as the tale of the awakening of an activist see-sawed against a young couple who’s relationship had been smashed to pieces by one half’s climate obsession.
Art works when it’s about people. Political art works because politics is about people too. Theatre should be about empathy. Getting you to give a shit about the people on stage.
And if that moves you to care about the politics of their situation, because of the impact it’s had on their lives, then that is when good art, becomes good politics.
And yes, polar bears. Greenland had one of those too. On stage. That makes everything better.
