23 April 2007
No Black Watch
The news that has been buzzing around for a fortnight is now confirmed. Black Watch, for the moment anyway, will not be coming to London. Why? Well, it’s a long story.
The National Theatre on the South Bank offered the National Theatre of Scotland the Olivier for a run of the show. The NTS turned them down on the reasonable basis that the show was designed for a large drill hall, was staged in traverse, and needed that special ‘event’ quality which the National would not have provided. (No doubt the Scottish National was also delighted to be able to snub the London National so publicly. And why not?)
The NTS then went into partnership with BITE:07 to secure an alternative London venue. Encore is led to believe that two main sites were pursued. One was to erect a temporary structure in the grounds of the Imperial War Museum. The continuity with the Museum would have been very appropriate; the venue is fairly central (near the National, Old and Young Vic, etc.); the temporary structure - somewhat like the big top that the National put up for Oh What a Lovely War some time ago - would have given that one-off event quality. Despite overcoming some considerable safety and security, the plan fell through, mainly because a lack of commitment from Southwark Council who seemed more concerned with picnickers and dogwalkers than securing a home for this prestigious show.
Similar council foot-dragging dogged the second site, the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane. Black Watch in the Black Eagle Brewery would have been a trendily out-of-the-way venue with the same kind of regenerative force as Punchdrunk’s Faust in Wapping. There are suitable spaces there and the industrial and working class history visible in the brickwork would have made this a powerful space to locate the production. Unfortunately, Tower Hamlets council were unhelpful, bureaucratic and slow and the project once again has fallen through.
This show is the undoubted British theatre sensation of last year. It won the South Bank Show theatre prize. It is touring widely, garnering acclaim everywhere; it opens in New York later this year. But London’s philistine borough councils can’t get it together to find a home for it. Shame on them. Shame for Londoners.
In other news: John Tiffany’s production of The Bacchae in a version by David Greig and starring Alan Cumming is coming to London, running in the autumn at the Lyric Hammersmith. This is a welcome return for Alan Cumming. Was La Bête his last appearance there? Encore was a mere slip of a thing when that happened, but we still recall that unstoppable, outrageous, virtuoso half-hour opening monologue and is irrepressible shout of ‘It’s showtime!’…
5 Comments currently posted.
Statler says:
anon says:
i wonder if they thought of the big hall at BAC?
Andrew Field says:
Speaking to guys from punchdrunk and Gridiron I got a sense of just how difficult they make it in London to do any kind of theatre in a building not designed specifically for the purpose.
Felix said they searched over 100 venues before they found the spot in Wapping and Ben has said the main reason behind Gridiron staying firmly north of the border is because the Scottish councils are so much more accommodating - trying to assist them to find solutions to problems rather than dismissing anything difficult out of hand.
Clearly the prevailing attitude in the London Boroughs is we have enough theatre (and theatres) thank you very much and i’m damned if i’m going to waste my time trying to help you.
It’s a crying shame because this kind of theatre (as well as engaging people with the landscape of their own area) can have wonderful development potential - look at the shunt vaults or the underbelly in edinburgh, both the discovery of site-specific companies and now exciting venues for a variety of events.
It’s frustrating to think that while people either moan or cheer the spending of seemingly all the money in the world levelling half of east-london to build an ugly glass sporting village on top, they largely ignore the potential to work with theatre makers who are willing to re-engage people (not just theatre audiences but the whole community) with the labrynth of forgotten spaces that London already has just lying around.
Theatre Worker says:
Same point made more articulately by Lyn in today’s Guardian:
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2007/04/we_must_find_a_london_location.html
ACIDDRIP says:
Black watch is awesome polished and professional theatre, but I am afraid that it does not in any way say anything we haven’t heard already from the BBC news!
We know the War in Iraq sucks, we know the army is full of real humans with human frailty and they swear a lot.
Why not a Play from the perspective of a Bazra resident, perhaps even getting inside the mind and from the point of view of a ’suicide bomber’, now that would be brave and radical theatre.. true it probably wouldnt “Unite the critics”, but is that what the theatre is all about?
I do not ask this question flippantly, so please feel free to answer guys…
Such a shame. While “The Wonderful World of Dissocia” and “Aalst” have given the National Theatre of Scotland a notable presence south of the border they both appear to have somewhat polarised opinions amongst critics. “Black Watch” would undoubtedly have been the production to unite the critics in the same manner as it did up here.
I missed out when it played the Edinburgh festival and had started to have serious doubts that anything could possibly justify the response it received, but on seeing it last week in Glasgow I just had to accept that this stunning piece of theatre really does seem to have such an intense impact on all who see it. Indeed my own review for View From The Stalls was very nearly a single line - “Believe the hype - everything you have heard about this show is true” - but as one of the lead roles was played by an understudy the night I attended it seemed only fair to give it a proper review.
I do have minor concerns as to how the language will translate as it travels the world - both the local dialect and the unrelenting obscenities, but for anyone with even a passing interest in modern theatre this is truly unmissable.
I’m certain it will reach London in time, but don’t be surprised if the NTS now look at taking it to the English regions as an alternative - they’ve shown in Scotland a willingness to travel around and “Aaslt” and “Dissocia” both tour a number of venues. But if you’re planning a trip to New York or one of its other international venues you could do much worse than time it to catch “Black Watch” while you are there.