Elegy

It doesn’t take a lot of money to create great theatre. What it does take is wonderful writing, brave producers, an innovative and empathetic director, creatives who understand the aesthetics at work, and a fine actor of immeasurable skill and truth. Elegy, as a flagship for this year’s “Midsumma Festival”, has all of those things; and the whole is greater even than the sum of its parts.

Rintoul has created this eloquent piece from the actual words in interviews with young, gay, Iraqi refugees; and made it a seamless narrative. Inspired by the amazing photographs of Bradley Secker (some of which are on show in the gallery), the text combines poetic imagery with the language of everyday to create an “everyman” to whom we can all relate, gay or straight, Eastern or Western. We are not so much confronted as drawn into a story of love, politics, alienation, displacement, passion, yearning, war and confusion. All of those elements in the Human Condition are there, and yet one lone actor carries the weight of the world and its complexity.

It’s a timely play for a country whose current political stance is to turn a blind eye to the plight of refugees, or reject, through fear, anyone who has even brushed shoulders with the word “Terrorist”. The sad thing is that it preaches to the converted, since it’s unlikely that those who truly need to see and understand this piece will ever be in the audience.

Nick Simpson-Deeks is an astonishing actor. He discards any tendencies to “play” the role. Instead he becomes one young gay man telling his story, and the story of everyone who has ever been persecuted and asked “Why?” No histrionics, no overt emotion, no manipulation, just truth. And though it is up to the audience to find that truth and let it touch their core, Simpson- Deeks’ raw bravery in expressing it comes not merely from technique, but from belief in every word, and a sense that he is releasing these thoughts, saying these words, for the very first time.  It’s a superb performance.

John Kachoyan’s direction is quite breathtaking. Monologues can be mesmerising but static; Kachoyan overcomes this danger by keeping his performer constantly on the move, providing a fluidity which at times suggests the dark waters to be crossed – both physically and metaphorically – and at others, the chaos of war, the dodging of bombs, and bullets, the running away even when you don’t know where you are running to. Though the piece is meticulously blocked, Kachoyan creates the illusion of spontaneity. It’s beautifully thought out.

Rob Sowinski has designed a superb set and lighting in what is essentially a black box. The different levels are not so obvious as to look contrived, but are used to emphasise the highs and lows of the storytelling. Lighting is never overstated but used brilliantly as part of the storytelling, and when the scrim….which the audience hasn’t even noticed…suddenly brings subtle pastel ripples into play, we hold our breath, wanting freedom to embrace our young refugee.

Russell Goldsmith has created a sound-scape and original compositions that are so subtle you might almost think you have imagined them.

Producers Lyall Brooks and Adam Fawcett have clearly conveyed their vision in committing to the piece and then let Kachoyan and Simpson-Deeks run with it. Rarely is a vision so perfectly realised by all creatives – and the result is something very special.

If you only see one offering in this Midsumma festival, make it Elegy…it is superb theatre and important storytelling.

Coral Drouyn