Review - At The Gates Of Gaza
Venue: Contact Theatre
Date Reviewed: 8th October, 2008
At The Gates of Gaza examines the motivations, and sets out the beliefs, of a group of World War I soldiers who have been drawn from the colonies and sent to fight for the Empire in Palestine. Topically, it also illustrates the ingratitude of the Government to the people who have given such service.
Opening in 1919 as a group of veterans are evicted by force from their Liverpool boarding house. This event brings back traumatic memories for Fairchild (Curtis Jay Cole) and the play takes the audience back (via an excellent scene change) to 1917 to his service in the British West Indies Regiment.
Fairchild has been assigned to the regiment because, although fair-skinned, he is mixed race. Having joined the army to prove himself by fighting the Germans, he resents having to work with men from Trinidad and Jamaica to whom he feels superior. As the play progresses the motives and beliefs of the characters are outlined as the enemy soldiers move closer.
Author Juliet Gilkes Romero creates vivid and well-rounded characters. She is able to use their conversation to convey the necessary background information to us without sounding stilted. The points of view expressed by the characters are interesting and their experiences moving.
However, neither the writer nor the Director, Steven Luckie, are able to create the claustrophobic atmosphere that is needed to convey a sense of danger or highlight the pressure that the soldiers must be feeling. As a result the descent into guilt and paranoia in the second act feels contrived and unconvincing.
Set and lighting designers Mark Walters and Crin Claxton are much more successful at establishing the feeling of apprehension. The walls of the Liverpool hostel fold and twist to become the bullet-ridden hideout in which the soldiers shelter. The gloom of Liverpool is replaced by bright blue skies and a sun-baked glow. Claxton’s skill at casting shadows over the cast makes credible the scene in which they are haunted by the memories of lost comrades.
The play is worth seeing for a series of exceptional performances. Director Luckie ensures that, although the cast speak in authentic accents from Jamaica, Trinidad and Liverpool, their dialogue is clear and comprehensible. Ben Bennett conveys the spiritual beliefs and respect for others that gives Patterson, the Team Leader, an inner peace and innate authority.
Curtis Jay Cole glowers resentfully and gives every indication of an almighty inferiority complex. The way in which daily fear and ceaseless boredom can affect people is displayed by Big George (Fabian Spencer) who becomes obsessed by minor events and moves towards petty malice.
Toyin Omari-Kinch, as Styles, demonstrates a practical yet strangely optimistic attitude towards how society might develop after the war. Matthew Moxon, as Miller, is stuck with expressing the narrow viewpoint of the little Englander but gets to deliver a harrowing speech on being captured and abused by the enemy.
At The Gates of Gaza is a thought-provoking and moving play but it utilmately lacks the strong story neccessary to keep an audience hooked throughout.
-Dave Cunningham