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The Process

The Bunker

Reviewed – 18th January 2020

★★★★★

“a haunting wake-up call to a society already trapped in a nightmare of its own creation”

Language, communication, understanding, conformity, politics, brutal bureaucracy, deafness and the future of a nation are the unlikely bedfellows in a scorching new drama at the Bunker Theatre.

Sarah Bedi’s powerful The Process hits its targets again and again, leaves the audience on the edge of their seats, and may even send them out weeping.

The artistic twist of this piece, which Bedi also directs with flair, is that it is presented in spoken English and British Sign Language. It is a clever device because it means that, but for a very small number in the audience, there are chunks of the play that will not be comprehended fully.

It may be a cliché to describe any drama set in a future dystopian society as resembling the TV series Black Mirror, but in this case it only scratches the surface of a thriller that will evoke shock, anger and even uncomfortable laughter.

From the outset we are told via a bleak projection that some will understand some things, some will understand different things and nobody will understand everything – that is how it is meant to be. What follows is a striking and often scary representation of a society that has become too clever for its own good, rating anyone not fitting in to a precise mould as troublesome or beneath respect.

The central characters in The Process are D/deaf but as a horrifying double climax makes clear it’s as much about the foreigner, the homeless, the poor, the uneducated, the disabled – in fact anyone who doesn’t fit neatly into a preconceived and comfortable package.

The scenario is “the day after tomorrow” with strong hints of a post-Brexit apocalypse. Tech wizard Jo (a blistering and robust performance from Jean St Clair) has created a cost efficiency app which monitors one’s value in society. Contribute too little for the benefit of those around you and you become a Null, a worthless member of the community destined to be locked away and forgotten.

The entrepreneur rapidly finds her personal life and that of those close to her spiralling downwards, with attempts to be heard and understood heartlessly ignored and her own invention turned against her.

This is a strong ensemble piece with all the other actors variously compelling in several roles. William Grint, Catherine Bailey, Ralph Bogard, George Eggay and Erin Siobhan Hutching find humour and subtle shades as the tension builds.

The set, an austere backdrop of impersonal and foreboding cells by Mayou Trikerioti, is cold and unyielding. The discompassionate picture is helped by the hums and throbs of a constant rich soundscape (Oliver Vibrans) and noteworthy lighting/video (William Reynolds).

This fourth full length project from BAZ Productions is not without its flaws – there are moments when the action cracks on a shade too rapidly at the expense of coherence and sometimes belief has to be suspended beyond normal bounds of acceptability – but the gritty credibility and the bold audacity in writing, directing and performances quickly outweighs them.

The Process is uncompromising in its dark message. It is the sort of timely and quality experimental production that makes you desperate for the Bunker to stay open and keep tackling such important issues through drama rather than having to close in the Spring for site redevelopment.

It offers a haunting wake-up call to a society already trapped in a nightmare of its own creation. If we fail to communicate with or attempt to listen to each other then this imagined stark future can only become a grim reality.

We don’t need to understand everything to respond and this stimulating and visionary production could be the first step in mending civilisation.

Reviewed by David Guest

Photography by Paul Biver

The Process

The Bunker until 1st February

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Fuck You Pay Me | ★★★★ | May 2019

The Flies | ★★★ | June 2019

Have I Told You I’m Writing a Play About my Vagina? | ★★★★ | July 2019

Jade City | ★★★ | September 2019

Germ Free Adolescent | ★★★★ | October 2019

We Anchor In Hope | ★★★★ | October 2019

Before I Was A Bear | ★★★★★ | November 2019

I Will Still Be Whole (When You Rip Me In Half) | ★★★★ | November 2019

My White Best Friend And Even More Letters Best Left Unsaid | ★★★★ | November 2019

The Girl With Glitter in Her Eye | ★★½ | January 2020

Click here to see our most recent reviews

★★½

“Some really vital themes are at stake … but the overall framing and direction lets these things down”

We enter the space to ethereal piano playing from Ben Ramsden, who is also the composer of the piece. Dressed in soft blues he echoes the set, designed by Cara Evans: a white chair, white boxes, white coffee cups, white sheet, and blue fringe hanging lightly over a white background. Hanging in the foreground is a beautiful piece, refracting light and so changing colour throughout the show. A good design, although a little distracting considering how little it is interacted with during the show.

Helen (Modupe Salu) is an artist, with one chance to impress an eccentric art director (Naomi Gardener) who wants work that shocks, that reflects her ‘background’, or as Helen translates it, she wants art about trauma. Helen co-runs a cafe with best mate Phil (Anna Mackay), and when Phil shares her own story of trauma with Helen, a story of sexual violence, Helen begs to use Phil’s trauma as the subject of her painting.

There are some really interesting themes in this piece, although perhaps too many at play simultaneously for it to feel cohesive. The way that trauma is exploited in art is discussed, as well as a privileged art world that thrives off this trauma that isn’t theirs. Equally the art world is portrayed as a very inaccessible space, and the barriers to it are clearly displayed. The play talks about sexual violence, and particularly the way it is depicted and discussed, in a really insightful and painful way. Finally it delves into whether you can ever tell someone else’s story, and the repercussions of trying to do so.

The Girl With Glitter in Her Eye is unnecessarily framed by three furies, that the three actors morph in and out of. Unfortunately this device takes us away from the real story of the play, lifts us out of a reality every time we are beginning to care about, and as a spectacle, feels amateurish in the use of vocal sound and movement. It is a distracting choice that doesn’t add anything to the way the story is told. Masha Kevinovna is both writer and director and this is certainly a moment where both writing and direction failed the piece. In general, better pacing in the writing would also have helped lift the moments of comedy earlier on which frequently fail to land. As a whole the show is lacking a sense of through line, a flow that keeps it all together, keeps it all moving.

The actors are much stronger when playing real people. Modupe Salu delivers a particularly strong performance as Helen, conflicted and passionate. Anna Mackay’s Phil is also lovely, simultaneously hard and vulnerable.

Some really vital themes are at stake in The Girl with Glitter in her Eye, but the overall framing and direction let these things down. A commitment to engaging with these themes in a more immediate way might make it stronger.

Reviewed by Amelia Brown

Photography by Victoria Double

The Bunker

Reviewed – 18th January 2020

★★★★★

“a haunting wake-up call to a society already trapped in a nightmare of its own creation”

Language, communication, understanding, conformity, politics, brutal bureaucracy, deafness and the future of a nation are the unlikely bedfellows in a scorching new drama at the Bunker Theatre.

Sarah Bedi’s powerful The Process hits its targets again and again, leaves the audience on the edge of their seats, and may even send them out weeping.

The artistic twist of this piece, which Bedi also directs with flair, is that it is presented in spoken English and British Sign Language. It is a clever device because it means that, but for a very small number in the audience, there are chunks of the play that will not be comprehended fully.

It may be a cliché to describe any drama set in a future dystopian society as resembling the TV series Black Mirror, but in this case it only scratches the surface of a thriller that will evoke shock, anger and even uncomfortable laughter.

The central characters in The Process are D/deaf but as a horrifying double climax makes clear it’s as much about the foreigner, the homeless, the poor, the uneducated, the disabled – in fact anyone who doesn’t fit neatly into a preconceived and comfortable package.

The entrepreneur rapidly finds her personal life and that of those close to her spiralling downwards, with attempts to be heard and understood heartlessly ignored and her own invention turned against her.

This is a strong ensemble piece with all the other actors variously compelling in several roles. William Grint, Catherine Bailey, Ralph Bogard, George Eggay and Erin Siobhan Hutching find humour and subtle shades as the tension builds.

The set, an austere backdrop of impersonal and foreboding cells by Mayou Trikerioti, is cold and unyielding. The discompassionate picture is helped by the hums and throbs of a constant rich soundscape (Oliver Vibrans) and noteworthy lighting/video (William Reynolds).

The Process is uncompromising in its dark message. It is the sort of timely and quality experimental production that makes you desperate for the Bunker to stay open and keep tackling such important issues through drama rather than having to close in the Spring for site redevelopment.

It offers a haunting wake-up call to a society already trapped in a nightmare of its own creation. If we fail to communicate with or attempt to listen to each other then this imagined stark future can only become a grim reality.

We don’t need to understand everything to respond and this stimulating and visionary production could be the first step in mending civilisation.

Reviewed by David Guest

Photography by Paul Biver

The Process

The Bunker until 1st February

Previously reviewed at this venue:

The Bunker

Reviewed – 13th January 2020

★★½

“Some really vital themes are at stake … but the overall framing and direction lets these things down”

The actors are much stronger when playing real people. Modupe Salu delivers a particularly strong performance as Helen, conflicted and passionate. Anna Mackay’s Phil is also lovely, simultaneously hard and vulnerable.

Some really vital themes are at stake in The Girl with Glitter in her Eye, but the overall framing and direction let these things down. A commitment to engaging with these themes in a more immediate way might make it stronger.

Reviewed by Amelia Brown

Photography by Victoria Double

The Girl With Glitter in Her Eye

The Bunker until 1st February

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue: