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Us/Them - Flight Path Theatre (NSW)
Written by Carly Wijs
A challenging and reflective portrayal of the emotional and psychological cost of violence on children through the lens of the 2004 Beslan school siege in Russia
Reviewed by Juliana Payne
Flightpath Theatre, Marrickville
Until 9 November
Carly Wijs’ work Us/Them tackles a deeply painful subject—the 2004 Beslan school siege in Russia—with a blend of sensitivity and insight. The young and passionate crew who have bravely taken up this challenging piece have created what only young and passionate people can sometimes – a heartfelt and raw performance with many moments of genuine compelling engagement for the audience. The tragic events of the siege in 2004, where Chechen terrorists held over 1,100 people hostage in a school for days in hideous conditions, with 334 of them dying including 186 children, are recounted through the perspective of two young children who are the only characters seen on stage.
With such a topic, the list of trigger warnings is a mile long, but in spite of these dire warnings, Wijs’ play is often sweet, funny and intimate. Ultimately, we and the children themselves face up to the horrors of what is happening around them. It’s difficult for adults to hit the right note when playing child-like characters, it can look like a caricature. Both Sam Martin and Rebekah Parsons present exuberant and innocent personas as the children, and capture a believable portrayal of a child’s idiom – often literal, sometimes lyrical, and with the infuriatingly funny way that children often focus on a completely irrelevant point. They give fulsome physical performances, and we can all see how hard they work throughout this play. The simplicity and innocence of the children’s viewpoint lend a surreal and unsettling quality to the retelling, which is enhanced by Andy Freeborn’s often discordant and jangly musical soundscape.
Photogray Yingying Zhang
Co-Directors Sammy Jing and Jess Ramsey draw the audience in from the opening scene. The children are drawing their own set in chalk on a completely black stage, describing their school and town, in a clever set design by Elle Fitzgerald. This perspective re-frames the tragedy, making it resonate from the ground up, as it were, rather than the usual geopolitical perspectives we hear in the news. The performers create vivid images with their bodies and expressions alone, as we bear witness to the terrible events. The directors wisely use several moments of pause at various point through the play, to contrast the often manic action and dialogue and which gives the audience a moment to remember what is actually happening.
Both Sam Martin and Rebekah Parsons present exuberant and innocent personas as the children, and capture a believable portrayal of a child’s idiom
Us/Them doesn’t simply recount a terrorist event, it challenges the audience to reflect on the emotional and psychological cost of violence on children. We could all list dozens of countries around the world at this moment where children are suffering the most, while governments and armies pursue power and treasure. The Russian government under Putin was mightily criticised at the time for its heartlessly incompetent response to this siege, and yet twenty years later he is still inflicting unimaginable suffering on children and families in Ukraine, and the people in Beslan still seek justice.
Us/Them does not bring relief or resolution, nor does it bring a hopeful cathartic release in the Greek sense. A play like this should make us more willing to resist authoritarian dictators, but as I write I see with a sense of despair that Trump has been elected President again in the USA.
Sammy Jing - Co-Director
Jess Ramsey – Co-Director
Julian Dunne – Lighting Designer
Andy Freeborn – Sound Designer/Composer
Elle Fitzgerald – Set/Costume designer
Yingying Zhang – Photographer
Alex Liang – Stage Manager
Sam Martin – Actor
Rebekah Parsons – Actor/Producer
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