You enter The Lyceum, but take your seats in Germany, 1945 in a provincial playhouse being used as a makeshift transit camp for displaced persons from across the continent. Read more …
As the play unfolds around you, British officers start to organise convoys for repatriation east and west. But agreement is not so easily achieved: one woman refuses to go West with collaborators; a Polish couple are terrified to travel East with the Russians; a Yugoslav partisan will not leave until he’s confronted a Chetnik hiding backstage. Many have no wish to go ‘home’ at all.
Arguments flare, violence ignites and yet there is also beauty and humanity to be found in the most unexpected places.
This timely revival of a lost classic takes us back to the inception of modern Europe with Boland’s masterful writing deftly illuminating this vital historic moment.
Boland’s play holds the message of the danger of fast held beliefs that engender perpetual blame and fear and stunt understanding. This nearly 70-year-old play still holds strong messages for our own conflicted time.
Seen instead as a timely revival of a wise-before-its-time script that sheds light on why today’s world needs such reserves of compassion, it’s a thoughtful, visually stunning production. And the pitch for the role of the arts in the second act feels like it comes straight from Artistic Director David Greig’s heart.
Cockpit ends up being a noble failure.
The strongest points are when it surrenders to the whole messy business of humanity. Both profoundly dispiriting and oddly encouraging in its examination of human nature, this is a production that needs to be seen.
Throwing light on contemporary Europe with a look at the past.
Boland's play is remarkable enough in its evocation of a conflict-riven Europe steeped in territorial suspicion and warped ideologies. By using the entire theatre as its stage, Wilson has herself broken through a symbolic barrier that makes for a thrilling theatrical experience.
Though it doesn't feel totally satisfying, the play is a really extraordinary piece of history; to have something written straight after the war still resonate with Europe today sends a shiver down the spine.
The production itself is full of moments of beauty and poignancy among the organised chaos.
See it or miss the most important, timely and thrilling event to grace and disrupt a Scottish stage any time this year.
Boland’s script resonates deeply.
A strong and timely production.
Depicting a period of crisis-induced cooperation sandwiched between belief-inflamed conflicts, Boland’s anxious and humane drama is a bold and brave exploration of the complexities of post-war Europe. However, it has beliefs of its own, and they are not without their own dubieties.
Wils Wilson on directing Cockpit at Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum
Wils Wilson--Cockpit
'You don't understand anything about Europe': 1947 play Cockpit blazes back.
Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh from Friday October 6, 2017, until Saturday October 28, 2017. More info: www.lyceum.org.uk
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