Red Phoenix Theatre. Holden Street Theatres. 20 Oct 2022
Jury duty is a serious business, never more so than for audiences of Terror at Holden Street Theatres.
German fighter pilot Major Lars Koch is on trial for shooting down a planeload of innocent people in order to save tens of thousands of other innocent people gathered in a football stadium for a big international match. Is he a murderer or a saviour?
It’s a classic philosophic dilemma and here, by wonderful Red Phoenix, it plays out as a courtroom drama written by controversial criminal lawyer and playwright, Ferdinand von Schirach.
Terrorists have hijacked the passenger plane and say they intend to crash it into the stadium. So, in shooting down the plane, Koch killed 164 people but saved many others. But on whose orders did he do it? Did he have the right to act on his own judgement? Was that murder? What other options may there have been? Where is the moral ground?
Audience members are ticketed with “Guilty” and “Not Guilty” tickets and must listen to the evidence and the arguments of prosecution and defence and then, using those tickets, anonymously indicate their decision.
To this end, designer Kate Prescott has created a magnificently impressive and formal set, the judge being highly elevated above the stage in a judicial box scarred by the sign of cracking. The cracking follows through onto the back wall and it is suggested that the courtroom itself is in a place of major external disruption. Defence and prosecution tables flank the towering judge and, beneath her, also a witness table and a court reporter. A sour-faced security man lurks, ready for anything, even just a new jug of water. And much water is consumed by the protagonists as the play moves loquaciously forwards. This is definitely the thinking theatre-goers’ theatre. It is a work previously unseen in this city, which is the Red Phoenix policy. It also is a work much vaunted in the rest of the world.
Red Phoenix has a pretty slick track record and this production keeps right up with it under the seasoned direction of Brant Eustice with Tracey Walker. Ostensibly simple in structure, it is a play which rests on impeccable timing and faultless focus. It is a very tough script, a daunting learning piece for the actors and extremely demanding in that they are dealing with nuances, all of which must be clearly conveyed.
As they are.
There is one witness, a fairly grumpy airforce factotum with a torrent of technical detail. Peter Davies has it all down pat and one can almost believe he really knows this stuff. Fahad Farooque plays the accused fighter pilot, and he explains his case and one sees him as a person. Kate van der Horst gives evidence as widow of a passenger. She sheds tears. It is touching. Perchance she is just there to humanise the dilemma. In terms of legal evidence, it seems a superfluous role. But the play is intense and fairly static so all added action is welcome. Heaven knows, there is little enough for Ruby Faith as the court stenographer. She keeps a stern face throughout, as does Samuel Creighton as the bailiff. Rachel Burfield, on the other hand, is superbly feisty as the prosecutor. She’s an accomplished actress and, along with Bart Csorba playing her courtroom opponent, possessed of a particularly agreeable stage voice. And, none is better than Sharon Malujlo who embodies the Presiding Judge; a consummate performance.
Hence, with this degree of professionalism, with this striking set, with good direction as well as sound and lighting, this challenging play has tension and clarity, sufficient for audience members to cast their verdicts and, perchance, go home to spend the rest of the night arguing the judgements with their partners.
Samela Harris
When: 20 to 29 Oct
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: holdenstreettheatres.com
