Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
This means that the subject matter doesn't get caught up in controversy, exactly the criticism the play makes of Rushdie's work (Zeinab complains that "he just can't resist doing something controversial"), meaning that the play feels more like a closely focussed social drama than a wide-reaching political investigation. Despite this it doesn't ignore the contemporaneity of the subject matter; opening with a projection entitled "Brixton in 2007" and a prologue from Zeinab, the first few minutes create a link between 1989 and the present day that is resolved in the final scene, set in modern day London.
In many ways it's not about the book; burning the book is not burning the author
The lack of a radical character - the only one present in the script is Zeinab's brother, who is merely alluded to without actually appearing - means that the characters presented are the confused, frustrated middlemen, occasionally buffeted to one side of the argument, but never staying there for too long. This is played on nicely, with a road sign on the set carrying the words "You're Lost", a sentiment that becomes a motif for the play, with the obvious connotations of a second generation Muslim trying to find her way between two cultures complemented by other "lost" characters: a confused tourist, a disenfranchised youth, an Imam lost in tradition, a hippy unsure of his direction in life and even a father criticised by his wife for spending too much time at his mother's house.
The furore surrounding the Satanic Verses, then, would seem to offer a way out of this lost state, a sense of purpose for the Muslim and non-Muslim characters alike, but Nalumoso shys away from such an easy conclusion. Instead the play shows characters, Zeinab in particular, angry that the book has failed to give them this direction, instead causing factions within the family and the Muslim community as a whole, and mockingly coming back to haunt Zeinab in her job as a journalist.
Wake Up Call is a play about tolerance, and the frustration that can arise if tolerance is adhered to - at one point Abdul states that "In many ways it's not about the book; burning the book is not burning the author," but he is repulsed by the burning of Rushdie's effigy on a protest march - but it is also about the selfish attitude of the near-radical who wants to shape the world to suit themselves, operating under the banner of the fight for free speech. In this way it avoids answers while raising many questions.
Wake Up Call runs for two more nights, tonight and Sunday, tickets cost £3.50 for Dramasoc members, and £4.50 for all others. Tickets are still available on the door for both of the remaining performances.
Is it not about Muhammed and his wives rather than Allah and his wives?
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