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The Review - THEATRE by JOHN COURTNEY O'CONNOR
Published: 5 March 2009

A fiery 10-part production that’s loaded with possibilities

THE POSSIBILITIES
The Courtyard Theatre Studio

I WAS reminded of the actor’s nightmare (being in an unfamiliar play and not knowing the dialogue) when the principal actor in the final scene of a series of 10 vignettes, written by Harold Barker, pointed a gun at me and fired.
Then the rest of the cast came on stage armed with revolvers and machine guns and commenced shooting at the audience.
Barker has called the audience “the enemy” and I presume he has little time for critics.
Half the scenes are directed by Phil Willmott, with the other half by Massimo Marinoni. Willmott concentrates on Barker’s language and creates a menacing, claustrophobic atmosphere, while Marinoni uses the whole space of the theatre studio to maximum visual effect.
The pieces are a stew of styles. They echo Brecht`s poems and titles, notably The Necessity for Prostitution in Advanced Societies, in which an old and young woman (Zuzu Oliel and Laura Olliffe) debate who has had the happier existence. Barker’s brilliant use of language and metaphor is expressed in the line: “A tongue that would laugh a man into ecstasy and lash a woman into shame.”
In one of the most poignant pieces – She Sees the Argument, But ... – a woman (Alexandra Hind) is admonished for exhibitionism by showing her ankles. The official (Hannah Sayer) believes the effect of her ankle is “a positive encouragement for criminality”.
For the final scene, The Philosophical Lieutenant and the Three Women, an army officer (Robert Sirrah) listens to the pleas of local peasant women whose village is occupied, only to have his throat slit by them.
Barker writes regularly for radio which, with this collection of themes, would certainly have possibilities.
Until March 8
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