Right Left With Heels
Online via www.voilafestival.co.uk
Reviewed – 14th November 2020
★★★★
“The humour is rebellious yet highly intelligent; and subversive to boot”
The series of military tribunals that constituted the Nuremberg Trials led, in part, to the establishment of the United Nations. The chief indictments at the trials included genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and targeted those who planned, carried out or participated in the Holocaust. The political and military leaders of Nazi Germany. There was another little-known faction, however, which has hitherto slipped through the annals of history. The ‘special section for degenerate objects’. An implausible idea – and fictitious of course, but by the end of the STIGMAcollective’s absurdist drama it doesn’t actually feel that far-fetched.
The two protagonists are a pair of shoes that were worn by Magda Goebbels. Their major crime was to have survived. That they didn’t burn. Oh, and that they contributed to the extermination of a nation. Already the question of crime by association has been thrown into the ring and we haven’t yet learnt what became of the shoes as they are passed down to subsequent owners. Forever the scapegoat, they are repeatedly discarded and then given a new, unexpected lease of life. But they never really escape their role of downtrodden victims. These boots ain’t made for walking, but talking’s what they do. And, yes, they are gonna talk all over you.
Rosa French and Francesca Isherwood, as the two shoes, both give captivating performances. There are elements of nonsense in Sebastian Majewski’s script that French and Isherwood tackle with an assured command of the style. The humour is rebellious yet highly intelligent; and subversive to boot. There is little disguising the underlying message; a message enhanced by back projections that merge original, vintage footage with modern day scenes high on our political agenda. History has a way of repeating itself, and this show’s stylistic concept reflects that quite ingeniously. There is a cyclical repetition; and the shoe’s story and dialogue are repeated. But each time another layer is added, and we sympathise more with their disdain for some of the characters that wear them. What does jar occasionally, however, is the accusatory tone that they also sometimes use to address to the audience. “Our punishment is coming to an end. But yours is just beginning.” It does little to get us on their side, which unfortunately can weaken the importance of the message.
But the characters are fascinating, and their fates quite harrowing – whether deserved or not. The shoes pass from perpetrators to victims, and back again. From a doctor’s wife to a collaborator, from the theatre to the streets of Poland, from the murderers to the murdered. Connor McLean’s music and evocative soundscape charge the atmosphere, matching the tension of the dialogue. Occasionally, though, style overrides the substance, and the chronological twists can confuse.
It is a shame that the current lockdown forced this to be a streamed presentation. It is an intriguing piece of theatre that will, hopefully, be repeated once audiences are allowed back into our theatres. There are many layers indeed to this production and it warrants multiple viewing. At its heart it questions our understanding of history. As mentioned, we see history twice in this show; the second time from a different perspective as extra (more shocking) detail is added. Although the focus is on writer Sebastian Majewski’s native Poland (a nation that has had its history re-written several times in living memory), the wider controversies kicked around by this pair of shoes is global. “Right left with heels” is as thought provoking as it is entertaining.
Reviewed by Jonathan Evans
Photography by Tomas Luksys
Right Left With Heels
Online via www.voilafestival.co.uk
Last ten shows reviewed by Jonathan:
Godspell Online in Concert | ★★★★★ | Online | August 2020
Henry V | ★★★★ | The Maltings | August 2020
St Anne Comes Home | ★★★★ | St Paul’s Church Covent Garden | August 2020
A Hero Of Our Time | ★★★★ | Stone Nest | September 2020
Buyer and Cellar | ★★★★ | Above the Stag | October 2020
The Great Gatsby | ★★★★★ | Immersive LDN | October 2020
The Last Five Years | ★★★★★ | Southwark Playhouse | October 2020
The Off Key | ★★★ | White Bear Theatre | October 2020
What a Carve Up! | ★★★★★ | Online | October 2020
Little Wars | ★★★★ | Online | October 2020
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