Children of Fate
In a dank, deserted building on the outskirts of an unnamed city, destitute Emilio (Dan MacLane) is looking after Marta (Siân Reese-Williams), who he rescued from the canal. The philosophical and cynical Emilio is resigned to his fate as one of the dispossessed.
Marta brings him an alternate view, one where love and life can still flourish even under a tyrannical regime of constant surveillance and repression, where everyone might be a spy, everyone is to be feared. Outside, there is an unidentified moving mass of people whose presence both scares and intrigues Marta. When Miguel (Offue Okegbe), a security guard, attempts to evict them from the premises, they find that even the employed are effectively as oppressed as the homeless.
Juan Radrigán's Children of Fate demonstrates the humour and love that can survive in the midst of the brutality that can grip those who are struggling to survive. At some point, it becomes a dog-eat-dog society, overtaking humanity and compassion. In the end though it's a depressing portrayal of a world gone sour.
This production by Danny West and directed by Robert Shaw, lacks any specific sense of place or time – other than a mention of a Mexican sit-com and a fleeting reference to pesos, this is an anywhere, anytime dystopian world. So while the original was firmly set in Pinochet's Chile, there's little reference to that here. Maybe that's the point, that we all risk falling into a police state if we are not vigilant in keeping humanity, compassion and love to the fore.
Reese-Williams is excellent as the generally upbeat Marta, smiling in the face of adversity and loss, but with an underlying vulnerability, her terror never far from the surface. MacLane gives Emilio a laid-back strength. As well as Miguel, the security guard (solidly played by Okegbe), Aurelio, an androgynous, disturbed character wanders into the building. Aurelio (played with crazy gusto by Julia Tarnoky) delivers a psychic message, apparently received via tin cans. This character is an odd intrusion, seeming to have little point in the overall narrative other than providing a foil for Emilio to demonstrate his compassion for all human beings, even those who seem to "think differently".
Gillian Argo's set design is evocative, all grimy walls and dripping water. It even smells dank.
Children of Fate is a thought-provoking play delivering a heavy political message.
