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A challenging and thought-provoking look at what our world has become and the people trying to stop our annihilation. Summary
Rating
Excellent
It feels a little strange to see Chris Thorpe chatting to the audience as you enter the Omnibus theatre, as if you’ve arrived too early and caught the cast off guard. But there’s nothing coincidental about the conversation. Names are given, there’s light-hearted banter. Chris is going to be our friend; he won’t let anything scary happen to us. Then we start, and the questions become serious: how many countries are there? How many have nuclear weapons? How many weapons are there? The numbers get bigger and bigger as we become aware of the size of the nuclear capacity in the world and its destructive potential.
The show is a brilliant mix of straight talking, no nonsense, ‘these are the facts, sit up and take notice’ with the enactment of interactions between representatives of the US, an unnamed African country and Véronique, the Senior Arms Adviser for the International Committee of the Red Cross at the United Nations (Andrea Quirbach). She is working towards the ratification of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Fifty countries are required to ratify the treaty so that activities to develop, test, produce, acquire, possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons will become illegal. We see the highs and the lows, and the tactics used to pressurise countries not to ratify the treaty, such as threatening to withhold aid funding. You’d be forgiven if you thought this was the worst of it. We’ve all had experiences of process being used instead of common sense and the consequences that ensue. What if that faulty process was the one used to activate a nuclear strike? What if communication broke down, or were misinterpreted?
Those initial chats about where audience members live feed neatly into a demonstration of Nukemap, a happy little website where you can pinpoint a town and map the level of destruction that would occur were it to be a target. You choose your method of mass destruction using a drop-down menu of nuclear weapons of various sizes based in different countries. Dropping a weapon on Clapham did for most of the audience, so having been wiped out we moved to consider the very real potential of Russia using nuclear weapons in Ukraine; what retaliation would look like, what escalation would look like. If you weren’t anxious before you entered the theatre you certainly should be when you leave. Watching the destruction of Beirut from an explosion of fertiliser components puts into perspective the power of nuclear weapons that have been developed over the last fifty years to create more and more destruction were they to be used today.
The treaty is ratified. The show then rightly takes us to the next step: disarmament. It explores the internal struggle of those in power whose conscience tell them disarmament is the way to go, but the countries they represent are unlikely ever to implement such an action.
The emotional effect of videos, lighting and sound in the intimate space of the Omnibus Theatre together with the straight-talking engagement with the audience makes A Family Business a moving and educational call to action. And if we are left at a loss as to what to do next, we are provided with a list of organisations that could help us consider our own next steps.
Written by: Chris Thorpe
Directed by: Claire O’Reilly
Sound Design by: Anna Clock
Lighting and A/V Design by: Arnim Friess
A Family Business has completed its current run at Omnibus Theatre.
