Words as Weapons

When events of the mid-twentieth century pushed humanity in confronting new directions, two playwrights who responded very directly were Germany’s Bertolt Brecht and England’s Harold Pinter.

Pictured: Demeil David (V)

Pictured in header: Cast and Crew

While Brecht’s plays are grounded in political struggle, Pinter’s plays, written after the shocks of the Second World War – the millions of deaths, the Holocaust and the atomic bombs – are interested in a more fundamental vision of human failure – what he termed ‘the drowning landscape’ – that extends even to language and meaning. Though often darkly funny, Pinter’s plays are notable for their tension and menace, for what is unsaid rather than spoken.

Pictured: Joseph Walsh (V)

Brecht’s Fear and Misery of the Third Reich provides snapshots of everyday life under Nazi rule – glimpses of the way that a brutal, totalitarian regime can make all aspects of everyday life, and all manner of normal human relations, become toxic, and how this toxicity is created through dialogue. Pinter’s two short plays, Trouble in the Works and Victoria Station, are also set in the workplace, but here what dominates is the oddness and aloneness of humans, and their inability to properly connect and communicate.

Pictured: L-R: Will Armstrong (V) and Peter Jones (VI)

By using stage flats placed at odd angles, and by rearranging these for each scene and play, director Dameon Garnett and the design team were able to give the entire performance an appropriate sense of disorientation and fragmentation, further emphasised through effective use of light and sound. The more than thirty boys in the cast brought these many moments to life by learning to apply the more subtle elements of stagecraft – tone of voice, gestures, pacing and pauses, the use of space – with thought and subtlety. Words as Weapons provided them with an invaluable opportunity to expand their performance experience and to learn about the challenging styles of these two important, influential playwrights. For all the darkness of mood and theme, the efforts of the cast and crew made for a memorable and rewarding evening of theatre.

Pictured L-R: Rohan Murphy and Patrick Busan (both V)