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A play about the climate crisis, that rewards a little patience with something unforgettable. Summary
Rating
Excellent
I never understand people who walk out of a show early (well, ok, sometimes it’s an emergency, not because they are not enjoying themselves). However bad it is, I feel a compulsion to stay until the bitter end. Firstly out of respect to artists and audience, but more because I want to see if it will improve, or deliver a final payoff to justify itself.
I’m pondering this because Are we not drawn onward to new erA is very much a show that requires patience. But trust me, the final payoff is more than worth that wait. In fact, I feel a little sorry for those two people who decided to leave early and thus never learnt just why it all began so oddly.
There’s no sugar coating the fact it’s a struggle early on. It makes little sense. We’re greeted with a bare set, where a single tree bears one solitary apple, and a lone woman wakes from her sleep. We watch confused as she is joined by five others, speaking together in some nonsensical language as they destroy the only piece of nature present. It’s all very artistic, all strange and disjointed movements and indecipherable language.
It helps to know that the show is about the climate crisis, part of Southbank’s Planet Summer season, and therefore that the destruction is an analogy with the way we have destroyed our planet. Soon the stage is littered with plastic and pieces of a statue which are slowly assembled; a manmade structure replacing the nature we began with. And all the time there is an inkling that this is all leading somewhere unexpected.
It’s a three star show without doubt at this point. And when the curtain falls and one lone actor remains to address us in that strange language, there is a sense that this really doesn’t live up to the excitement that surrounds Belgian theatre company Ontroerend Goed’s show. Except that isn’t the end. The payoff is yet to come.
Spoiler alert time!
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So that strange but slightly recognisable language? They are speaking backwards. Those strange movements? They are moving in reverse. To be fair it’s not too much of a spoiler, and the more observant will likely have worked these thing out early on. But why go to all that effort, it still doesn’t explain what the big message really is? What follows though does. Suddenly we are left in awe of the skill within the performance, not just the backwards speaking and movement, but the creative team involved in designing this piece in such a way.
The real spoiler, which you aren’t getting here though, is how we find all this out, and how the show’s message is ultimately delivered. It’s a message that says yes, we’ve made a mess of our planet, yes, at times it feels an impossible task to save it. But there is hope, we just need to work together, because sometimes the impossible is possible. It’ss a very simple message but delivered in the most complex of ways.
Are we not drawn onward to new erA is the quintessential play of two halves. The first just a little slow, the second making it more than worth the effort. Which brings me full circle (just as the play does). Why walk out early? Theatre sometimes requires a little effort and admittedly it doesn’t always pay off. But when it does, you realise just how special it can be. We are left in disbelf at what we have just witnessed, something we’re unlikely to forget for some time.
Devised by: Ontroerend Goed
Are we not drawn onward to new erA plays as part of Southbank Centre’s Planet Summer Season. More information can be found here.
