Friday 18 September 2009

power and censorship

I can't but notice the way power structures are hungry for
more power, more trampling on of human, intellectual, artistic rights.
Unforgivable mistakes by the police lead to murder of innocents
(de Menezes in London);
fear of 'offending' the complaining citizens lead to censorship
(Mapplethorpe in Scotland); immigrants are being treated
like criminals (Mytilene, Greece) etc.

I just saw Stockwell, a verbatim piece of theatre,
at the Tricycle, based on the murder of De Menezes,
the Brazilian electrician mistaken for
terrorist and shot point blank in the head 9
times in an underground carriage, on 21st July 2005.
Anyone can be mistaken for terrorist...

It was a lucky coincidence that the radical barrister
Michael Mansfield who represented the De
Menezes family in the trial, was there for a Q & A after the show.
I had followed the case closely, fascinated by the whole theatre
of deception, denial, distortion of the truth staged by the police but
also the resistance and integrity shown by the De Menezes family.
Still I didn't know that there were 3 occassions when the police
(Surveillance Team, Firearms Team and New Scotland Yard)
could have arrested De Menezes from the time he left his
flat in Herne Hill to the time he went down Stockwell station
(a half an hour journey)... Cold-blooded assasination was preferable...

Chillingly, shortly before the incident, the then Chief
of Metropolitan Police asked the Prime Minister:
Has the time come when we can shoot on sight?

It was interesting to hear the responses by
the audience and reflect on the social relevance
of contemporary theatre. The discussion
was totally political, it was all about the content,
nothing about the form of the play.

As a playwright I felt the desire to ask questions about the process
of writing, choices made in the editing of the transcripts, theatricality
of the production etc but I remained silent, listening with fascination
to the issues in the case...Verbatim theatre must have that kind of effect.

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