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Barbican Bite and Mehr Theatre Group present: Quartet: A Journey North
Written by Amir Reza Koohestani and Mahi Sadri
Barbican Pit 2 - 6 December 2008
A review by Amber Gregory for EXTRA! EXTRA!
When walking into the performance area the audience is immediately struck by the immense darkness that engulfs the space. We are in the round, with one table facing each side and behind them, a screen. Each table has a glass of water on it and when the four actors walk in (two men and two women) and sit behind the tables I feel certain that I must have accidently come to watch Forced Entertainment’s ‘Exquisite Pain’. In the darkness the four projectors light up and display beautiful scenery and we hear a Persian voice over. Eventually one of the women speaks, and when she does her face is projected onto the screens. What we have in front of us is live footage. The lips we see moving on the actress are moving in unison on film. The only light in the room is that given off the screens- and that in itself is extremely eerie. The four actors tell us the separate stories based on the true events of two Iranian murderers. Although the stories are not interlinked, they do flow along a similar stream. At first we are told how the story ends, and then we are introduced to the characters, find out about their lives, their work, their friends. After we get to know them we hear the stories by both the murderer and by another significant person in their lives. This works well, as we hear the stories from the person who kills, intertwined with someone who was also a bystander. This gives us a better understanding of the characters, as we do not only see them from their own perspective. A story is a journey, with a beginning, middle and end. Sometimes instead of seeing the actors faces we see a car, going on a journey- symbolising the journey of the stories which are currently being told. At other points we are shown a beautiful scene as we were at the start of the performance. Whilst listening to these dark tales we are reminded that there is still beauty in the world. This performance was originally made as a documentary film, and it is now a film that I am extremely intrigued to see. The main difference between watching a live subtitled documentary and a pre recorded one is your own personal ability to concentrate. When watching subtitles on film all you have to concentrate on is the words and figures you see on a screen. In a theatre space there is so much more. There are four screens, four actors, a set (even if it is a simple one) and you are looking at people directly in front of you and to the sides- there is quite simply a lot more going on! The story is a gripping one but if at any point you miss the subtitles it can feel as though you have missed out on so much. Saying this, the live action of the performance is more intense than any film could ever be. When one of the characters stands during the performance the entire audience is flooded with fear. There is no television set that puts a barrier between us and the ‘murderer’. Seeing faces on projections so long makes you forget about the real life people on stage. When we are once again reminded of the reality of the actors on stage the entire story somehow becomes entirely more real. At the end of the show the cameras turn on the audience. Seeing our faces at the end of the performance as the cameras turn on us raises the terrifying question: could this ever be one of us?
Barbican Centre In Persian with English subtitles Performance time: 19:45 Running time: 80 mins/no interval
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