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A powerful set of spoken word pieces that should make us angry about how the law of joint enterprise is used in this country. Summary
Rating
Excellent
Joint enterprise is the law whereby you can be guilty of a crime not because you were the one who directly committed it, but because you had an association. It’s controversial to say the least. Repeatedly called racist and classist, its use at times has appeared totally unjust. Remarkably it’s a law that has been around since 1846.
It’s this very law that was used to convict and sentence to death Derek Bentley in 1953 for the murder of a policeman, the infamous ‘let him have it’ case. And yet, almost 70 years later, people are still being convicted, as the law’s interpretation is constantly tested.
Jay Bernard‘s Joint is a series of spoken word pieces about that flawed law, highlighting all that is wrong with it. Each presents a different narrative, and for each, performer Indra Ova’s delivery is incredible. She makes us believe the words are all hers; that each one is her own true story. Except they are all told from differing perspectives, exploring the law from different angles.
But of course, we delve deeper than just an attack on this law. Bernard’s writing addresses the shockwaves it causes. It looks at those affected, those living in fear that one day it might be them the system deems to have been associated, and so tried for another person’s crime.
Ova becomes the mother mourning her daughter’s imprisonment, the younger sister lost without her older sibling who has ‘disappeared’, which really means in prison. She is the flatmate who washes the bloodstained clothes and so becomes an accomplice to a stabbing. All may seem farfetched, but there’s an element of truth throughout, leaving us wondering if these are based on real events. And that makes them even more powerful.
So many truly incredible lines leap out at us, calling out the racism and classism so clearly present. We hear joint enterprise described as “not a law but a mentality”. It’s hard hitting. It should shake us to the very core that we allow such things to still be true. “Poor, black, working, class: round them up” could literally be the dog whistling from certain elements of our current government! Priti Patel even gets a direct name check for her infamous Question Time appearance where she stated that “the death penalty would act as a deterrent”, beautifully responded to by Bernard with “she really means revenge.”
One further piece addresses the media’s role in all this – how we are conditioned by their constant drip feed of language; “To the criminal justice system, the collective noun of black youths is ‘gang’”; giving us a reason to feel ‘these’ people are simply getting ‘what they deserve’. It all supports the narrative that if someone is charged and convicted, well, they must be guilty, because our legal system is flawless, isn’t it? As if there has never been a miscarriage of justice! Derek Bentley’s conviction was quashed in 1998.
And it’s this reason Joint is such a powerful show. It addresses the law, it counters those arguments, it presents clear reasons why we should be angry that such laws are still present. It is, as with all the most powerful theatre, a call to arms demanding we do something about it. Joint leaves you angry at the state our country is in, but it also leaves you energised and desperate to find a way to make a difference. This is a call out of all the lies and myths and we should all be sitting up and listening.
Written by: Jay Bernard
Directed by: Jo Tyabji
Joint played as part of London Literature Festival at Southbank Centre. More information on the festival can be found here, whilst more information on Jay Bernard and this show can be found here.
