'Furious, full of righteous indignation and with a sting,' Lorna Irvine is greatly impressed by Gilded Balloon's touring production.
Man, this is some good stuff: cogent, witty and very, very sobering, this play should be performed at schools and universities all over the world until work practices change.
Based on Mike Daisey's protest monologue and adapted by Andy Arnold, it has already met with controversy: internet search engine results will tell you this in mere seconds. The truth hurts, after all, and this is an uncompromising piece of agitprop that the Chinese authorities don't want people to know.
Our hero, a nameless uber-nerd played by Grant O' Rourke, gives a talk on his love of all things Apple. He is hilarious, a terrific mimic bouncing around extolling the virtues of all things tech like the greatest character Douglas Coupland never created; the opportunity comes to visit the factory where a staggering '50% of all our electronics are made', Foxconn in Chengdu, a vast city in China.
Initially he's buzzin'—after all, it's not every day you get to see what goes into making the things that we take for granted: iPhones, Samsung and Nokia products, etc. He finds the city incredible, "like Blade Runner threw up on itself'', such is the massive scale…until he meets the first twelve year old factory worker, who testifies to working upwards of twelve hours a day. More youngsters meet him outside with similar stories and it's here that the reality becomes chilling. Anyone actually old enough to join a Union faces jail. Conditions are so bad that no one is allowed to talk or bond (friendships after all, would mean democracy in people power).
Then there is the small matter of Hexane, a chemical used to clean the products' screens. Everything is done by hand and this chemical is so toxic that it dissolves the joints of workers' hands. Many will never work again.
This, O' Rourke tells us, is Apple founder Steve Jobs' legacy. Jobs, the man who was such a tyrant that one filthy look could silence someone. A man for whom the term 'ruthless asshole' seemed a compliment.
Director Marcus Roche gets a monster performance out of O' Rourke - it is the best 'lecture' I have heard: furious, full of righteous indignation and with a sting that will resonate every time you turn on a mobile phone or computer. Catch this virus next time it comes around, it's infectious.
For more information: Twitter: #agonyecstasy
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