Review: A Fine Idea, Arcola Theatre

A Fine Idea is directed with imagination and creativity by Charlotte Westenra. The play has a company of four actors all working as an ensemble as they play a range of diverse characters.

At 90 minutes the play moves along at a lively pace, and scenes flit through various times starting from the present day. Quickly established is the late 1940s/and early 1950s in a suburban household in Virginia, where Ben Hardy and his wife Christine lament the inaction of the US State Department of Communications for not taking up his latest paper on primitive nation support. Christine, played convincingly by Georgina Rich, motivates Ben (played by the versatile Kevin Trainor) to go the White House directly to get Truman interested. Christine Bacon’s play is packed with information and data, and it is to the credit of the actors that relationships and emotional interactions have some sense of an inner life, and are explored in this didactic piece that weighs heavily on information. 

The opening contemporary speech is direct to the audience and establishes the granddaughter to Ben. Jo (Ella Bryant), is a delightfully idealistic, optimistic and empathetic individual but with a hint of something like joining the family business. It is of course business that is under scrutiny here. 

We are in the world of no free lunches and right from the get-go, Ben’s conception of poor nation support needed framing, as Christine realises, so they brainstorm the best way to approach Tuman. Their eureka moment is International Development; it says something of business, of strategy, of moving forward, helping those least fortunate than oneself. Certainly, altruistic and good for business, after all, a debt needs to be met however low the interest rates are. Truman buys it and the idea spawns thousands of development agencies, and academic courses. This is a dilemma Bacon has us witness. Our focus is on the Third World (newly branded as the Global South); is it about unequivocal support or is it also about gaining a foothold in vulnerable countries, where their spiralling debt forever keeps them in tow – all those markets untapped! What a jolly adventure.

The play amuses, presenting a range of digital statements, and data flashed up and quickly redefined by the various characters. Targets need to be met and deadlines kept, so the number crushing must be favourable and with the help of other agencies, IMF, or international banks, and NGOs, the data is shaped and presented in a way for politicians to keep selling the idea, even if the reality is that seemingly not much has changed over the years, all helped along by do-gooders in an endless cycle. This is a dilemma we are faced with; conscientious charity workers support those on the ground, creating programmes they think will best suit the locals like Kala, a protestor and agitator, ably played by Grace Saif. There lies the tension with locals, like Kala, who actually want something else – so are these agencies helping or hindering?

Despite the talented cast, the relationships often felt forced as they served as a vehicle for the polemic. In many ways, the play would have benefited from going further with its didactic or Brechtian styles. Particularly in the Vaudeville magic scene with the snappy exchanges, where poverty, hunger, and aid were seen as fair game. Set designer, Georgia Wilmot, delivered props, costumes and simple set pieces that entertained and allowed for the action to roll from one short to another. 

It is certainly a worthy piece that should be seen more widely (in schools perhaps), as it raises ethical and moral questions about the political landscape – the haves and have nots.

Written by Christine Bacon
Directed by Charlotte Westerna
Set design by Georgia Wilmot
Costume Design by Emma Williams
Lighting Design by Hartley TA Kemp
Sound Design by Tom Smith
Composition by Jonny Berliner
Movement/ Fight Director: Kevin McCurdy
Choreography by Steven Harris
Voice /Dialect Coach: Gurkiran Kaur
Illusion Design by John Bulleid

A Fine Idea plays at Arcola Theatre until Saturday 4 July.