Review: A FIGHT AGAINST... UNA LUCHA CONTRA..., Royal Court Theatre

Five slices of life spread over 140 years in Latin America and the Deep South of the USA. Men and women talk, but they struggle to communicate. There's a common experience, but there's no community to bind them psychologically or socially. They (and we) think about the word, or, more accurately, the concept of 'alone'.

In his native Chile, Pablo Manzi (translated here by William Gregory) has won a slew of awards that has seen his work staged all over the world. This production marks his English language debut, a bold and interesting move by the venue to find a playwright in a culture more known for its novelists.

Indeed, there is a touch of Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges' short stories in the scenes we witness. A lecturer describes an assault by a deranged student, whom we later meet after another fight in a nightclub. White supremacists in the US are at a loss to find something to keep them together now that the local immigrants have been terrorised away. Two guards on a deserted (indeed, desert) border post swap words, but little else, as the time drags by. In 1880, a hangman is struck dumb by a botched job and the news that sentencing petty thieves to death no longer has any impact on the populace so his job is no more.

There's some humour in the pieces, some outlining of character, but all the scenes are simply too brief for us to engage fully with the people - ironically, or perhaps deliberately, as soon as a connection begins to form, it's blackout and a new scene begins its progress to the same dead end. The effect is frustrating, as the building blocks of drama are assembled and then pushed over, just as a shape begins to emerge.

The ensemble cast do what they can within the structure, particularly Joseph Balderrama and Jimena Larraguivel, who whisper their conversation about the student's assault so used are they as academics to metaphorically and literally keeping their opinions quiet for fear of who might be listening. Pía Laborde-Noguez is a menacing observer throughout, but we never see more than that aggression.

Over in 70 minutes or so, it's a frustrating evening as there's much to say to a London audience about both the universal theme of fracturing communities and what that does to the individuals who comprise them, particularly in the specific circumstances of South and Central America. It's disappointing to come away having found out so little about either.

A Fight Against... Una Lucha Contra... is at the Royal Court until 22 January

Photo Tristram Kenton

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