Arts & International Affairs: 2.3: Autumn/Winter 2017 | Page 13

THE BRITISH COUNCIL AND THE POWER OF THEATRE
his multi-talented and multi-racial cast. It was a unique hybrid of performance and exhi-
bition, looking at themes of racism and Europe’s colonial history through a startling set
of 13 fixed installations peopled by the brave cast.
I saw it in the elegant surroundings of Edinburgh University’s old library, a noble ar-
chitectural articulation of eighteenth-century Enlightenment philosophy, somewhat at
odds with the challenging material ... decidedly NON-enlightened! It was a powerful
combination, and one which had received plaudits, as well (yes) as sparking debate. I
found it unbearably moving, especially considering the roles willingly taken on by the
enterprising cast.
It was based on the concept of “human zoos” and ethnographic displays popularised
(not SO long ago) at the end of the nineteenth century. In each tableau, the audience
(who see it in small numbers, walking around as if IN a museum) is confronted by a
black performer, who casts an unsettling, silent gaze upon the viewer. Utterly compel-
ling! The reviews used words such as “moving, vital, disturbing, unbearable, essential”
not only as a political statement relating to the past and European guilt but also as a
compelling piece of theatre.
Imagine my dismay and anger when it was prevented from opening at the Barbican (my
former venue) later in 2014 by a group of ill-informed protestors, using violence and
threats. I was particularly angered, since I had worked so hard at the Barbican to build its
reputation for progressive international theatre—as well as presenting several excellent
shows by Brett Bailey. The protestors (who hadn’t even seen it!) called it an act of “com-
plicit racism”, which was about as stupid a criticism as you could invent—it was precisely
the opposite! And they had no right to prevent other free-minded adults from seeing it,
judging it and responding to it. A shameful episode all round: bad for freedom of expres-
sion, bad for the Barbican’s reputation, unfortunate for Bailey and his cast. But you can’t
deny THAT piece of theatre packs a powerful punch, whichever side you are on.
Theatre also has a role in empowering marginalised groups. According to figures from
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the conflict in Syria has forced
almost five million people to leave their homes and seek refuge in other countries. The
majority of these are women and children, living in neighbouring countries, with little
prospect of returning home in the near future. In 2013, Refuge Productions brought to-
gether 60 Syrian refugee women living in Jordan to adapt and perform Euripides’ anti-war
tragedy, The Women of Troy, as well as Antigone by Sophocles. The director was Syrian
and they worked with an Egyptian author in a contemporary version of the stories.
We also supported them through the British Council, and I was privileged to meet some
of them at a regional arts meeting in Beirut a year ago, and see documentary footage of
some of their work. They’d never acted before, and the extraordinary piece of theatre
they produced weaves together their own stories of life as refugees and their experience
of war and terrible loss with the ancient Greek text.
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