George Steiner has been often quoted that it's
impossible to write tragedy after Auschwitz; perhaps it's even harder after Srebrenicze,
which doesn't stop attempts being made. Zinnie Harris' Fall is set in a country
of the playwright's imagination, where perpetrators of not-particularly
described mayhem are about to be executed. The government is barely holding on
to an economy edging toward free-fall and a population in search of
scape-goats. Familiar territory from TV and newspaper reports, broad-brushed
into place without identifying places or people whose names might sound too close to
familiar "typographical errors."
The central character, Kate (Geraldine Alexander), searches for truth amid confusion and compromise. Evener (Cliff Burnett),
facing execution, refuses to offer any of the securities she seeks, while
Pierre (Darrell D'Silva), the Prime Minister, tries desperately to cling to the
power he knows has slipped to his Deputy, Howard (Paul Hickey), and Kiki, his
wife (Meg Fraser). Kate becomes a pawn in the manoeuvres to carry out mass
execution whilst retaining enough respectability to allow foreign investment to
prop up the tottering regime.
Although the characters represent different strands
and values, they retain the integrity of their characterisation, which at some
moments is perversely a pity. Because what's gained in identification is lost
in argument. If it's become impossible to write tragedy after Auschwitz, has it
also become impossible to write politically after Iraq and Afghanistan? It does
feel rather as if setting Fall in A.N. Other country of the recent past (or
future?), whilst allowing people to do things a little differently, doesn't
allow the audience to have to relate action and characters to anything very
specific.
We can walk out of the theatre and talk about the play without the
distressing difficulty of naming names that might upset us. Undeniably great
plays work beyond and outwith the context in which they may be placed - Macbeth
and Ibsen's An Enemy of The People immediately spring to mind - but context
is assuredly there, a hand and handle we can immediately grasp as we face up to
uncomfortable truths. While Harris deploys her arguments skilfully, their
deliberate de-contextualisation allows us too much room to avoid them.
Dates: August 3-16
Times: varies, see Fringe Programme for details.
Copyright Bill Dunlop August 2008
Published on edinburghguide.com August 2008