Tag Archives: Rebecca Crankshaw

Forgotten – 3 Stars

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Forgotten

Forgotten

Arcola Theatre

Reviewed – 31st October 2018

★★★

“Forgotten is a play which should most certainly take its place in our global collective memory”

 

Daniel York Loh’s play takes as its subject the forgotten contribution of the WW1 Chinese Labour Corps – approximately 140,000 in number – who supported the Allies and, in no small part, paved the way for the shaping of modern China. The cast of six take us on a journey from a rural village in China to 1920s Paris, by way of the trenches and a French munitions factory, and, for the most part, it is a compelling and enlightening ride. Three of Forgotten’s central protagonists are part of a rural theatre troupe, and the play begins with their stylised performance of a folk-tale, complete with the striking high pitch and rising cadence associated with Chinese opera. It is a clever device through which to catapult this 21st century London audience into a different world, and immediately emphasises how little we know of China and its history and traditions. This theatrical form was continually woven through the tapestry of the piece, with greater and lesser degrees of success, but at its best moments – the Eunuch Lin facing down German shell-fire with song and dance – was uniquely arresting. Credit must be given here to Quang Kien Van’s perfectly tuned movement direction, which so deftly transformed the villagers/soldiers into performers when the occasion demanded.

Emma Bailey’s excellent design, complemented by Jessica Hung Han Yun’s lighting and Luke Swaffield’s sound, artfully created the play’s various different worlds, and Kim Pearce (Director) ensured that the narrative rarely lost pace. There were some lovely performances to boot. This reviewer was particularly charmed by the open-faced and open-hearted Big Dog (engagingly played by Camille Mallet De Chauny), and the other-worldly innocence of the Eunuch Lin (beautifully portrayed by Zachary Hing). In many ways, the play’s central character is The Professor (Leo Wan). He is educated and aspirational, frequently railing against China’s status in the world and yearning for Western cultural and technological sophistication. He begins the piece as a hopeful optimist, convinced that once the fighting has died down, his country and his fellows will finally be given the golden ticket. Wan perfectly captures this sweet, earnest man and provides the play with some gentle but essential comedy moments – his explanation of the muddled alliance and origins of the war being a particular highlight. His final act of anger and defiance is the play’s most powerful image, and justifies the otherwise slightly limp final section, set in postwar Paris.

By shining a light, a hundred years after the end of the Great War, on the shameful omission of the CLC from the numerous narratives of Allied victory, Daniel York Loh’s Forgotten is a vital piece of theatre, and deserves a longer run and a larger stage. It is a complex piece, grappling with themes of colonialism, the price of technological progress, the plight of rural women, and, in a meta-theatrical fashion, the power and role of theatre itself. Occasionally the piece strains under the weight of this thematic density. The post-war exposition seems clumsy, and the play’s language – a melting pot of Confucian poetry, delicious archaic swearing, French and English – occasionally becomes overly dissonant and would benefit from a bit of editorial finesse. It is to be hoped that Loh can harness some further investment to keep working, because Forgotten is a play which should most certainly take its place in our global collective memory.

Reviewed by Rebecca Crankshaw

Photography by Jack Sain

 

Arcola Theatre

Forgotten

Arcola Theatre until 17th November

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
Heretic Voices | ★★★★ | January 2018
Fine & Dandy | ★★★★★ | February 2018
The Daughter-in-Law | ★★★★ | May 2018
The Parade | ★★★ | May 2018
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives | ★★★★★ | June 2018
The Rape of Lucretia | ★★★★ | July 2018
Elephant Steps | ★★★★ | August 2018
Greek | ★★★★ | August 2018
Mrs Dalloway | ★★★★ | October 2018

 

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The Secret Letters of Gertie & Hen – 1 Star

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The Secret Letters of

The Secret Letters of Gertie & Hen

Time and Leisure Studio

Reviewed – 30th October 2018

★

“all we are presented with is an off-stage scream and a heavy-handed movement sequence by way of insight”

 

The Secret Letters of Gertie & Hen tells the story of two families – one English and one German – and what happens to them over the course of World War II. It is an exhaustive account (the evening runs at 2 hours 25 minutes including interval) yet one in which, despite various dramatic ‘events’, there is precious little theatrical nourishment. This is partly owing to the subject itself – there has been a great deal of creative exploration of this period – but largely owing to the manner in which it has been treated. We were presented with a straightforward linear narrative, date-stamped by the characters as the evening proceeded, and various different family mises-en-scènes. We were never given any insight into the inner life of any of these people, and there was far too much clumsy exposition throughout. As a result, it was impossible to feel for these individuals; they existed only as cardboard cutouts.

Many of the extensive (twenty pages!) programme notes invite us to view this piece as an attempt to address the need for a new view of the happenings of the war through female eyes. As terrific and zeitgeisty as this sounds, this is not the show that was presented at the Time and Leisure Studio at the New Wimbledon Theatre last night. The two titular girls age six years during the course of the war, going through puberty whilst history unfolds around them, yet the tumultuous physical and emotional changes that characterise that time were nowhere to be seen. And it’s not as if source material is difficult to come by – Anne Frank was supremely eloquent on this very subject. Similarly, two of the play’s mothers lose young children during the course of the play, and yet all we are presented with is an off-stage scream and a heavy-handed movement sequence by way of insight. Where are these women’s voices???

There were also some fairly glaring factual inaccuracies – chief among them the fact that British child evacuees did not begin to be returned home until 1944, and the mass deportation of Jews from Germany did not begin until 1941 – as well as a ludicrous plot inconsistency. There is not a chance in hell that a German civilian could have posted a letter to London from Berlin in the last days of the war. All of which added together begs the question, why did Imogen Hunter choose to write this play? Given that she is a Drama Studio graduate, as are six of the nine cast members, it would seem that the evening was an effort to showcase her own talent, as well as that of her fellow alumni. A worthy aim indeed, and one which shows both discipline and initiative. It is no mean feat to write and direct a full-length play and new voices should be encouraged, in all areas of the profession.

London theatre feels very exciting at the moment. Terrific new programmes have been announced at the Young Vic and the Royal Court; the newly refurbed Battersea Arts Centre has been showcasing some fantastic new voices, and Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s explosive Emilia was a feminist call to arms at The Globe this summer. Instead of rehashing a past that doesn’t belong to them, let’s hear, from this energetic group of recent graduates, about the present and the future, which their fellow young creatives are most excitingly and emphatically claiming as their own.

 

Reviewed by Rebecca Crankshaw

Photography by Natalya Micic

 


The Secret Letters of Gertie & Hen

Time and Leisure Studio until 3rd November

 

 

 

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