Parade at Bridewell Theatre
Culture can be divisive and whereas I enjoyed the musical retelling of the mysterious and tragic case of Leo Frank in Parade, my boyfriend claimed to feel: ‘disgusted, appalled and like throwing up on the director’s face.’
The first thing to note about Parade is that it has been put on by sedos, a 104-year-old charity set up by the Stock Exchange to harness dramatic talent inside the square mile. Membership has diversified during the passing century to include performers outside of the City but off-duty lawyers still make up a satisfying portion of the cast.
Parade, based on a book by Alfred Uhry, is set between 1913 and 1915 in Georgia and tells the story of events leading up to and from the discovery of 12-year-old Mary Phagan’s body in a factory run by Jewish businessman, Leo Frank.
The timeline is religiously accurate and not only crams in all the events of what turns into a massive legal and social battle with a side of romance, but also takes the time, at the beginning of the play, to set the climate of the epoch and the significance of the characters. Although this is commendable from a historian’s point of view, after the fifth twist, my addled brain was dreaming of neat little narrative arcs.
Irrespective, the content was sufficiently intriguing to prompt me to spend hours researching the real life events later on that night.
The reason why this case transcended a nightly news level of fame to become something that gets a long Wikipedia page is that it epitomised the social and anti-Semitic forces of the time. To this day there are no concrete facts that point to Leo’s guilt or innocence yet the prejudice he met is clear.
The source of my boyfriend’s ire was that now should be a time in which – rather than resurrecting stories that fuel a victim complex amongst the Jewish people – we attempt to disarm paranoia and build bridges in the Middle East.
My take is less political: if art can fill in a piece of the sprawling jigsaw that makes up our global history then I’m for it. And Parade, with its stonking band and all-singing, all-dancing cast of lawyers and stockbrokers did that with energy, talent, and scrupulous attention to detail.
Parade runs until Saturday 5 December at:
Bridewell Theatre
14 Bride Lane
Blackfriars
EC4Y 8EQ
Box office: 020 7353 3331
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Now that’s an interesting take on a theatre review of a piece based on a factual story in America in the early 1900s…disarming paranoia and building bridges in the Middle East. At which point do you censor all theatre productions, movies, music and art festivals through the lens of what clearly a single viewer perceives as a hidden agenda? I’d suggest Ms Monks Kaufman sticks to discussing the work under review rather than playing Mary Whitehouse to her boyfriend’s whim. This is a theatre review, not a political grandstand!
My dear, sweet old thing, Trev…
Firstly old fruit, allow me to make clear, that throwing up in a directors face is more so down to my gifted drunkenness, than deep analysis of a play. Also I seek to underscore that my proposed ire was ever so slightly booze filled. So, there are my MP style disclaimers. Here’s another one: Half my family are Jewish and that makes me… Well, you do the maths. Now, far from seriously considering this musical as strong enough artistically or contextually profound enough to incite hatred – I don’t – I just found it odd that anyone, would wish to set music to it on the London stage and thought especially odd the bizarre nineteenth century, black caricatures given the play’s themes. P.S. I don’t see any Mary Whitehouse styled leanings at all in this review. Hidden agendas? Bless, my darling Trev, you’re an adorable sweetie pops. More!
Dear Trevor,
Thank you for your comment. It’s always good to get feedback.
I agree with your point that censorship based on a few cases of individual outrage would be fatal to the arts however the c-word was not mentioned. Forgive me if it was implied.
As for theatre reviews not being a political grandstand, once again, I quite agree but perceive that politics – like puddles at this time of year – have a habit of cropping up everywhere and I have no interest in denying this.
I’m sorry if the inclusion of my boyfriend’s point of view has affronted your sense of what should and shouldn’t be present in a theatre review. I had some extra words to play with and thought it would be an interesting vignette to mention. I think I made it clear that I do not share his outrage and surely, given my distancing, a quote from another audience member cannot be out of place.
@Liam – I’m astonished at your admission. A “booze-filled” “gifted drunkeness” doth not a thoughtful review make. Though I did laugh at your statement that you find it odd that “anyone, would wish to set music to it on the London stage”. Did you perhaps drunkenly suggest the same thing to the Donmar when it staged it in London in 2007? Or perhaps at the profession production on in LA at the moment? Your girlfriend suggested you expressed “ire”, not me, so enough of the “proposed ire”.
@Sophie – I agree with your points on broadening the remit of a review to include context. I don’t agree that this includes not staging something because a “booze-filled” partner happened to think we shouldn’t “be resurrecting stories that fuel a victim complex amongst the Jewish people”. If you had some extra words to play with, I’d suggest you perhaps reflect your own view and let him post his own.
Yes Trevor, perhaps you’re right, if only because Liam must now defend his point of view based on my glib summary which does not represent his opinion in all its glory. Please bear this in mind when parrying with him further.
I would, as a parting shot, like to point out that The London Word encourages its writers to include personal colour more than most journalistic publications do. There are more than enough outlets for straight journalism in this country and, as a culture enthusiast, I’m sure you would hate to see writing homogenised.
Dear T time teaser,
Try frozen peas on your little purple cheeks or otherwise, sucking on a sharp sweet should help to draw in the puffing.
Certainly I would ask “Why bother?” should the Los Angeles troop and crew strike up a chorus in nearness. Certainly… I suppose in the same way that you would drably cast limp aspersions by means of posted comment. How’s that? Kisses.