Review: A PRACTICAL GUIDE ON HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD WHEN NO ONE F***ING ELSE IS, Tara Theatre
Photo credit: Razvi Adam
The world is dying, there are flash floods and the forests are being destroyed, meanwhile companies like Shell profit from the damage. So, once a week, a climate action group meets in a community hall to do something, the question is what? And, more importantly, who will steer them in the right direction now that their leader has disappeared?
This show is part of Natasha Kathi-Chandra’s first season as the Artistic Director of Tara Theatre. Writer Nicole Latchana wrote the show in four weeks, in response to creative exercises generated by the cast in rehearsals. The current production at Tara Theatre marks the show's official debut.
The set is quite stark; fold down chairs are placed in a circle in the centre of the room and a box of light about the size of the room is suspended from the ceiling. This gives the show a home-made feel and grounds it in its town hall setting. The light box seems to represent an inescapable warning light, which is ominous in its ever-presence.
The writing of this show is phenomenal, especially given the short time constraint in which it was written, and it is clear to see how much collaborative effort has gone into it. It's powerful and urgent; the message sticking with us after we left the venue and we found ourselves deeply moved and challenged by this show. It unapologetically shows how people from the global south are disproportionately targeted and labelled as criminals as the result of dangerous white, western prejudice, privilege and apathy. It highlights the various reasons why people chose or chose not to engage in activism and it provokes key questions about what it means to be an activist. It asks what the difference is between peaceful protest and eco-terrorism and isn’t afraid to make a case for the range of potential consequences for both (positive and/or negative).
To that end, it must be said that it takes a very strong cast, not only to be committed to creative collaboration but also to be able to pull of such an impassioned script with conviction. The cast consists of Adil Rehman, Gurjot Dhaliwal, Martha Wrench, Stephan Hunte-Wilson, Tinoula Ibrahim, Usmaan Khan and Zain Ahmad, who are all members of the Tara Theatre Young Company. It's impossible to highlight a single one of these highly skilled actors and we feel that it wouldn’t be right given that the entire purpose of the piece is to show the power of community collaboration. Its clear to see that they’ve all considered the questions and debates that their unique characters raise. They all give this diverse range of characters distinct voices and convey a plethora of convincing perspectives, meaning that every character has depth and feels full bodied. They’re all utterly captivating to watch.
Director Gavin Joseph and assistant director Amaan Khalid have done an outstanding job with their directorial style. They create seamless transitions between locations and ideas through their use of dance and physical theatre and it looks stunning. By making the scenes as naturalistic as possible, these moments stand out as pieces of art in and of themselves and show the power of the arts as a form of activism. We particularly enjoyed the audience interaction at the end of the show, when the cast passes out mini-practical guides and encourages us all to follow the instructions in the booklet to do our bit for the climate.
A blunt and thought provoking show that fearlessly makes a statement. It isn’t all talk, it's action.
***** Five stars
Reviewed by: Megan O’Neill
