REVIEWS: SUSPECT CULTURE

12/4/07

© MARK FISHER published in Variety

Futurology: A Global Revue

(Secc, Glasgow, Scotland; 375 Seats; &Pound;15 ($30) Top)

A Suspect Culture, National Theater of Scotland, Brighton Festival presentation of a play in two acts by the Suspect Culture company. Directed by Graham Eatough.

With: Raphaelle Boitel, David Carr, Angela de Castro, Callum Cuthbertson, Maria Victoria Di Pace, Grant Smeaton, Sharon Smith, Morag Stark.

In a remarkable fusion of conference etiquette and cabaret flamboyance, Scottish company Suspect Culture has taken the temperature of our globally warmed-up times and produced a theatrical hybrid that's as entertaining as it is politically ambivalent. Lying somewhere between satire and surrealism, "Futurology: A Global Revue" paints a wry and witty picture of a generation caught in the headlights of an apocalyptic juggernaut. But while its refusal to commit itself to any route out of our impending eco-nightmare is deliberate, it also feels like an evasion.

The production, which is being performed in the same kind of conference centers where the story's team of international delegates meet, is built on the premise that in times of impending doom mankind turns either to public debate or to hedonistic escape.

As the audience enters wearing national badges handed out at the door, an officious Morag Stark barks out directives to representatives at the 14th U.N. Conference of the Future, ordering them to complete their registration and warning of security breaches in the building.

As they settle down behind the Perspex desks of Patrick Macklin and Ian Scott's tiered set, they find themselves increasingly incapable of agreeing on the wording of a sentence that will secure the world's future. Much to the consternation of Angela de Castro's plain-talking Patrice, who has journeyed from the fictional Sandwich Island 465 miles south of Fiji, every attempt to do something about rising sea levels collapses into a mess of argument, flirtation and indifference.

Displaying striking theatricality, the show finds physical form for such acts of denial in a series of specialty acts -- a torch song, a tango, a ventriloquist routine rife with double entendres -- that seem to laugh in the face of catastrophe, much as happened in Berlin during the rise of Hitler.

Driven by Nick Powell's excellent score, performed by his four-piece cabaret show-band, the production is only one step away from being a full-blown musical as rousing choruses make ironic commentary on our impotence. One particularly exasperating discussion session culminates with "Whistle, Bang, Slap, Crash, Bang, Wallop," a feelgood show tune that could have come from "Half a Sixpence" or "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

With Grant Smeaton as the local mayor-cum-emcee, cracking insensitive jokes while his people riot in the streets outside, the show is a constant battle between the rational and the instinctive. Any time progress looks like it's being made, the floor is given over to a contortionist, a hypnotist or a sultry singer. As the play reaches its apocalyptic end, the implication is that neither manifestos nor cabaret are an adequate response, the bland final agreement ("We aspire to face the future together") being as futile a gesture as any of the acts.

Seemingly, the company threw all the contradictory opinions, insecurities and pressures of our times into the air to see where they'd land. To observe the chaos in this way expresses society's confusion, but politically it seems a cop out. It partially explains why the tone can be uncertain, even if it is always closer to laughter than outrage.

Dramaturg David Greig and helmer Graham Eatough are experts at ironic detachment which is frequently funny, but here, fiddling while Rome burns, the approach swings toward pessimism. The strength of the performances and the wittiness of the script, however, ensure a stimulating and entertaining evening, made memorable by a bold and original structure and spiced by the flavor of topicality.

Sets and costumes, Patrick Macklin, Ian Scott; lighting, Ian Scott; original music and sound, Nick Powell; choreographer, Vincent Cacialano; dramaturgs, David Greig, Dan Rebellato. Opened April 10, 2007. Reviewed April 11. Running time 2 HOURS, 20 MIN.

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