F E S T I VA L T H E AT R E | History on Stage
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<< This trend of using history to examine the present isn’t new, but there’s a sense that in our current turbulent times, people are looking back more than ever. Zuric explains that The Burning is doing just that, ‘Witch hunts spiked in Europe at moments of great change . . . we’re asking, “are we again at a big point of change and turmoil?”’ She hopes that she can show history in a new light to provide an answer to why witch hunts happened in the first place, ‘I want people to understand that a lot of these big events came from basic human emotions of fear and anxiety.’ Essentially, we must realise that anyone has the potential to have been the bad guy in history. ‘We think “well they all just didn’t know what they were doing”, when actually they are a lot closer to us because we still operate from being emotional beings’.
Bible John similarly uses the past to confront the present and explores the popular genre of true crime and its uncanny ability to resonate. ‘They are just women who went on a night out and didn’t come home, I think there’s nothing really in place to stop that happening again. It looks at that with a modern lens and questions whether it could,’ McEwan explains.
The current cultural obsession with true crime tells us that storytelling based on real-life events captivates audiences. But when the stories in this genre rarely have resolutions, and the majority feature violence against women, why are we so enthralled? ‘The self-protection thing is really big,’ says McEwan. ‘The fact they have all the elements of traditionally good stories like intrigue, high stakes and evidence, and I think people are attracted by the psychological aspect of understanding why someone would do something like that.’ But for McEwan, her story isn’t really about that, it’s about opening up these histories and taking the spotlight off the perpetrators and on to the often faceless victims. ‘Centring the victims is the most important part of the play for me and if nothing else is remembered, if they know these women’s names, that will be the main thing.’
In Trying It On, the history Edgar mediates on is the events of his youth – the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King Jr and sex, drugs and rock’n’roll – with the added perspectives of well-known activists and figures of his generation like Tariq Ali, Anna Coote and Hilary Wainwright. He believes this type of solo show would have been hard to do ten years ago, ‘because all kinds of things have happened since then that bring back the feel of the 1960s.
‘I think people are clearly looking back with the rise of the populist right, people are looking back to the 30s, and what happened in Europe,’ he continues, ‘but they’re also looking back to what happened in the 60s and 70s.’ By exploring his younger and older selves through time, he reveals the various ways in which his life has bumped into history along the way. ‘I think it’s quite important to understand how history impacts on you and I think that is particularly true of the moment, because, God knows, whatever happens in the current political moment, all of our lives are going to change, and our personal lives are going to be impacted by the histories of which we are living.’ So, while theatre may never truly represent history as it happens in textbooks, the current political, social and cultural climate makes it a breeding ground for historical-based theatrical pieces. The juxtaposition of yesterday and today in theatre can reveal a lot about tomorrow, and might just be capturing the zeitgeist that defines our times.
The Burning, 3–26 Aug (not 13), 3.15pm, £12–£13 (£11–£12). Previews 31 Jul–2 Aug, £7.
Bible John, 3–26 Aug (not 13), 3.50pm, £11–£12. (£10–£11). Previews 31 Jul–2 Aug, £7. Trying It On, 4–25 Aug (not 5,12,19), times vary, £22 (£15–£16.50). Preview 3 Aug, £15 (£9).
110 THE LIST FESTIVAL 31 Jul–7 Aug 2019
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Clockwise from left: Bible John, Trying It On; previous page: The Burning