Review: CUTTING THE TIGHTROPE: THE DIVORCE OF POLITICS FROM ART, Arcola Theatre

At a time when productions are being cancelled because of their references to Palestine and trans rights, can theatre be entirely divorced from politics? Going further into the matter, can artists ever produce something that’s inherently apolitical? From casting choices to wordings, from marketing material to target audience, we venture that theatre is, at its very heart, politics. With the Arts Council themselves openly stating that political involvement can cause reputational risks to individuals and organisations alike, is the government essentially censoring the arts?

Now at its second run and presented in an updated version by co-directors Cressida Brown and Kirsty Housley, Cutting the Tightrope puts together a list of brilliant playwrights (Hassan Abdulrazzak, Mojisola Adebayo, Phil Arditti, Sonali Bhattacharyya, Nina Bowers, Roxy Cook, Ed Edwards, Afsaneh Gray, Dawn King, Ahmed Masoud, Joel Samuels, Sami Abu Wardeh) to tackle the line between entertainment and engagement. Tackling everything from programmes built on fake promises to selective outrage, they pull no punches. 

A statement from a “fictional” artistic director opens the show, one of those perfunctory pieces of writing that pop up when a slither of controversy appears on the horizon. What ensues is a collection of short plays that lift the veil on the vanity and insensitivity of British theatre, opening a perfect state-of-the-world conversation. The only issue - and we’ll get this out of the way immediately because it’s something that goes with the territory - is that they play into somewhat of an echo chamber; everyone in attendance already agrees and knows why we’re here. It might be limiting, but - gosh! -  isn’t it invigorating to see what theatre should be in times of crisis like this?

Stories of occupation and bombings coexist within a framework that indicts every institution who’s decided to stay silent. There’s a sweet precision in the language of each scene, perhaps to avoid any libellous threat, but also to prove how important it is to be actively political on a main fringe stage. The team offers restless, fervent, undiluted ideas, asking questions like whose role is it to write about Palestine and can people actually be indignant about it?

Ultimately, it’s a wake-up call (just in case you haven’t woken up yet!). Speaking about police brutality and Western non-interventionism, blindness to humanitarian crises and mass murder, genocide and racism, the creatives don’t plead to be listened to, they demand it, taking up the space they deserve.

They’re fiery, fierce, and fearless, knowingly going against an industry that might as well have blacklisted each of them. "Never again was meant to be never again" they remind.

Cutting the Tightrope runs at the Arcola Theatre until 7 December

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