17 – 19 March
Back in the day a colleague of mine here at StageTalk Magazine was working on a London based listings magazine that had a whole section headed ‘Agitprop’. Originally a Russian concept describing art that would raise awareness and excite emotions leading to fundamental changes in society, ‘Agitprop’ was used notably by Brecht and similar left leaning artistic groups, and particularly by student and other radical theatre groups of the seventies and eighties. With Ay up Hitler, Gamma Ray Theatre are carrying on in a fine tradition.
With scripts typified by shoulder-launched squibs designed to tweak the nose of all brands of right wing politicos, plays of this ilk mostly appeared in pop-up theatre spaces very similar to the Alma. Despite being products of and for their time and often thereby forgettable, nevertheless the form produced some of today’s leading playwrights who laid down markers and set roots which still bear fruit.
Contemporary politics offers a smorgasbord of juicy, satirical targets for anyone with a left leaning outlook and Ay Up Hitler takes a pop at most of them. The comic premise of the piece is that the Nazi ‘fab four’, Göring, Himmler, Goebbels and the lad himself, Adolf, all managed to escape to England, specifically Yorkshire, as the war was coming to its conclusion. The not too subtle suggestion is that hiding in plain sight whilst planning the Fourth Reich is a bit like falling off a log in such congenial surroundings. Accordingly the cast set about launching a blitzkrieg of non-PC utterances enough to give the collywobbles to anyone of a sensitive disposition. It’s all done, if not with finesse, then at least a good deal of agreeable gusto. Political worthies from Churchill (played as a kind of Flashman) through to Bozo (played as a kind of Flashman) all come in for a bit of a kicking.
The pared down set of a black box with some black boxes leaves now’t but the satirical script of David McCulloch (Göring) to keep us entertained. He happily skips around in time and place, making some snappy observations “England, where dreams go to die” and pertinent to the present moment, “Any lie can become true if you keep repeating it”. All the while sailing as close to the wind as possible without actually being blown backwards into a squall of bad taste.
The times are tailor made for satire and Gamma Ray Theatre have whisked up a wicked brew sharp enough to excite the juices of anyone who reads the news.
★★★☆☆ Graham Wyles 18th March
Photo credit: Chris Hawley
