Chilcot (Battersea Arts Centre)
It’s now only a month until we hear the results of Sir John Chilcot’s inquiry into whether Britain acted lawfully when we went to war in Iraq in 2003. The results will be released after seven years of seemingly unending U-turns and back tracking. So if there's one thing that can be said about this verbatim play from theatre company Lung, it is that it is exceptionally timely. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make up for the fact that watching the show is about as fun as watching the real thing probably was.
'But this is political theatre!' I hear you cry. 'What the hell does fun matter?' And I suppose you’re right, fun isn’t always necessary. But political theatre absolutely must be engaging and it absolutely must represent its source material in a more dramatic way than just replaying it onstage. As it is, vast swathes of Chilcot has dark suited men and women peer over their glasses as they speak into their microphones and rustle papers while witnesses drone on and on.
Two desks are positioned either end of the stage, at one sits Chilcot and his frowning group of interviewers, at the other, members of the cabinet and figures from the time give their testimonies. They speak the words the originals spoke in the actual inquiry. This set up is occasionally broken up by moments where soldiers, their parents and Iraqis stand in the middle of the desks and give their own personal views out front. The fact that these testimonies from people on the ground – those directly affected by the conflict – are unlikely to have been heard in the inquiry is an irony that is only vaguely highlighted in this play.
The main tragedy here is that what these people are saying is vitally important, but it rarely draws us in. The Chilcot inquiry, the war in Iraq, the holding accountable of Tony Blair and his cabinet, are events that will define our era. But it's so hard to feel emotionally involved watching this play.
Parts of Chilcot are chilling. When it becomes clear that Clare Short – the Secretary of State for International Development at the time – was barely aware of the decision to go to war, you begin to wonder just what was going on at Westminster. Watching Alastair Campbell – Tony Blair’s spin doctor – try to justify why he was chairing meetings with MI5 is shocking. The ensemble of actors are good, but Matt Woodhead’s direction feels staid and static and the script from Woodhead and Richard Norton-Taylor is clunkily edited.
The hearings themselves took three years in total, and we get a real glimpse of the hell it must have been. It is a dispiriting evening, which you can't help but think is how we will be feeling when Chilcot's report finally is published.
Chilcot runs at Battersea Arts Centre until 10 June.
