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Camden Fringe 2023
A strong play tackling the difficulties of consent from a very unusual female perspective. Summary
Rating
Good
No-one will surely disagree that consent is a topic that IS absolutely black and white. No really means no. Yet, as the data clearly proves, in reality it is made as grey as the current summer skies, signalled by the lack of successful rape prosecutions, let alone the low numbers even reported to the police to begin with. Which all means it is a topic that deserves – demands! – to be tackled, to generate those important conversations.
Bar is exactly the show to do that, tackling the subject in an interesting and thought-provoking way. By removing any male presence, the story is told fully from the viewpoint of female friends, who go as far as blaming peers for not speaking out. It’s a tough approach and does risk removing the actual culprit for rape, i.e. the male, from the equation, but at the same time, it clearly highlights that everyone needs to say something if we are ever to see change.
Set the morning after the night before, four friends and bar co-workers (Valia Katsi, Inbal Port, Catty Tucker and Amy Zhang – also the collective writing team) begin to skirt around what may have happened to Cecelia the previous evening. Each adds small details of what they saw and it becomes very clear what is being suggested. But none are willing to actually say the word out loud, instead letting it cast a cloud over the friendship.
That central core of Bar is solid enough to make this a great piece that delivers a powerful message. The way the story is drip-fed is both well written and directed, scenes smoothly transitioning to maintain its flow. There’s also some wonderful movement direction at play, allowing the four to make good use of the tight space of The Hope Theatre. Each of the three witnesses take turns in the role of the assailant, and in doing so this places them at the heart of the crime, insinuating that each could have, should have, said or done something rather than stand idly by. At its heart the whole concept that their silence is a form of complicity is well presented, never too heavy but all too clear.
But to elevate it further into a great play there needs to be more attention to what revolves around that central core. Certainly a little humour is fine, even when your topic is so serious, but there are moments when it feels overdone, as if they are playing for the big laugh instead of that light chuckle that can be used to distract us just enough from what is hiding in plain sight. Equally, the accompanying music, played live by the cast, at times feels unnecessary. It needs to be asked, does this really add something to the story? Whilst a soundtrack can help set the tone, at times it here just feels as if it is being overthought and included for no real reason. Finally, the inclusion of a couple of monologues that are not directly related to that core, whilst powerful in their own right, feel misplaced. When the heart of the piece is so strong the writers should be confident to stick to it and not allow tangential thinking to distract.
Bar takes a difficult topic and presents it in what feels a unique and powerful way. It’s a show that is solid enough already but that could easily be worked up to push its message home with real force, something that is still, sadly, greatly needed in a world where sexual assaults and rape remain all too common.
Written by: Valia Katsi, Inbal Port, Catty Tucker and Amy Zhang
Produced by: Lemon Shed
Bar plays at The Hope Theatre for Camden Fringe until 9 August, Further information and bookings can be found here.
