What sets the Exchange Theatre apart, in my opinion, is that they understand
drama must, in order to communicate, have both a technical surface level, and a deeper 'feeling level'; and that this cuts across conventional definitions of theatre by working on different levels at once, to give us something which combines, or 'fuses', the incompatible; the mis-matched. Things like Mythology with say, Rock N' Roll. Like it or not, not matter how much we protest we are open minded, the theatre, our theatre, is very conservative, and does not mix up the high and the low, the populist and the classical, the crude and the sophisticated. Like it or not our theatre is very superior and snobbish, considering itself above other 'lower' art forms like say the cinema, and in this regard will not get it's pristine hands dirty; the result of which is in 99% of new theatre, there is no communication, no 'feeling level', and what we have instead is some kind of artistic/social/cultural agenda, foisted upon us, which simply seeks to brow-beat us into agreeing with it. However, like Caliban looking in his mirror, the theatre, our theatre, will never in a milllion years admit this and protest, (too much,methinks,) that this is not the case. That because actor/luvvies emote, it does have a feeling level, and because actor/luvvies get the accents, costumes, styles, etc. right, it does DOES communicate darling! which is patent rubbish but a patent rubbish quite invisible to the theatrical eye! "Is this a patent rubbish I see before me, it's rubbishy agenda, tilted, in my direction?" Well yes frankly it is. Which is why we must clebrate the Exchange Theatre's production of 'The Flies' which sets a new direction in terms of 'our' theatre, darling!
Why is the Flies an important play? Answer. Because it tackles head on the issue of human freedom. This was the core issue in all Sartre's philosophy, and here, via greek myth he attempts to dramatise, to show, to act out on stage a story which embodies this issue. No one before or since Sartre has attempted to tackle such a monumental issue head on, and this has to be applauded. Neither is his attempt out of date. If we look around at this moment in time, we still see a world where people possess freedom in name only, and where we are ruled by conformism. CONFORMISM! Deny it if you will, made of an immovable iron dogma; and this despite all the scientific and artistic advances of the twentieth century! Like it or not we are still floundering around in freedom's shallows and still utterlly defeated by the riddle of freedom's Shpinx! Of course we are! So it is that we must congratulate The Exchange Theatre for their production of The Flies, which once again prompts us to think about this most MOST important of human issues. What possible hope is there if we give up on this? What? Add to this the fact that this production understands the key element in this whole issue. A thing most people are blissfully unaware of, and this is that the only solution in terms of our freedom is a RADICAL one. Radical in the sense of determined. Going against trends. Acting despite public opinion. And this is the essence of their production. Fusing Sartre's somewhat academic piece with a live rock band is a stoke of radical genius!Terrific! This and it's bold staging fuse new life into the old beast. This production is one of the few notes of hope in a world where global ecological, and economic problems escalate daily. Everyone should see it and everyone should ponder like Orestes does, what exactly it does mean to see the 'flies' around us, to take responsiblity, and to shake off our 'bad faith' so that we might at last, at least, attempt to be free.
