Come from Away, Musical, written by David Hein and Irene Sankoff, Phoenix Theatre London, 8* out of 10

Built on true Canadian hospitality, politeness and a bit of pathos, Come from Away's originality in taking an unlikely subject as the basis for a  musical ultimately succeeds with audiences in its feel-good mission and has an Olivier Award to show for it.

In the episodic rivulets flowing from the stormy seas of world history, interesting stories can be found which are waiting to be told. On 11 September 2011 thousands of people descended upon Gander, a small town with an enormous airport in Canada’s province of Newfoundland to commemorate the days they spent there 10 years earlier when the run of history was administered a violent jolt by the murderous attack of Al-Qaida, a violent Islamist organisation, on New York City and Washington DC.

In the wake of the airplane hijackings and attacks on the twin- towers, all US airspace was closed for several days. The planes that were in the air expecting to enter the United States when the relevant authorities took this decision had to land wherever possible outside the USA. Gander had a giant airport, because in the era before passenger planes had jet engines all flights from Europe to the US had to refuel there. In 2001 plans to close the little-used airfield of Gander had been made but not yet implemented. And so, 38 airplanes and 6500 passengers were diverted to this sleepy town.

Come from Away is a musical-treatment of the events at Gander where the 7000- inhabitant town of Gander and surrounding villages stood up to the challenge of welcoming 6500 unexpected and upset airline passengers and crew from all over the world. A random cosmopolitan crowd quite literally if gently falling from the skies into a very quiet, somewhat backwoods region. Come from Away shows us how the local community pulled together to give them a home from away and how some of the random encounters played out. 

Based on in-depth interviews the musical written by David Hein and Irene Sankoff this is a charming, feel-good musical with fair attempts at moving moments about airplane passengers and crews in temporary distress. They were helped by the Newfoundlanders of Gander and surrounding towns in a necessarily improvised but heart-warmingly cordial manner with no expectation of any payment in return. 

What makes the production work is above all the lively ensemble performance, with actors slipping into different roles as needed, the on-stage musical accompaniment, direction by Christopher Ashley, scenic design (Beowulf Boritt)  as well as the lighting design (Howell Binkley) which transforms the stage space instantly into into school halls, outside scenery and aircraft cabins as needed. The music is very pleasant too. 

All this makes Come from Away a very enjoyable watchable and original show for those of us in the West who like to be helpful to strangers and for cosmopolitans who often take airplanes for jobs and holidays.

What the story does not have is conflict or real tension between its protagonists, although, or perhaps because, the murderous conflict of which the 9/11 attack is a part plays a significant role in the background: it is, of course, our own view of western civilization as a friendly and cosmopolitan good that is being celebrated in this musical, and the other side of the coin, western civilization being seen as unfriendly and violent to non-westerners is only hinted at. Similarly, the potential conflict between gay city dwellers and manly Newfoundland lumberjacks is also resolved in polite and down to earth Canadian tolerance which although it sometimes skips the province of Quebec, apparently reaches all the way to Newfoundland. There is no black-face future Canadian prime minister anywhere to be seen either. Also, in the era of Greta Thunberg’s admonitions to us all on the evils of air-travel for our environment, any story which has only positive things to say about airline pilots and frequent fliers and the kind earthlings whose beautiful environment they gradually destroy may leave some of us feeling slightly queasy.

If such potential reservations do not put you off, then you are likely to enjoy this enthusiastically performed and similarly received award-winning musical as much as the audiences who love it. Moreover, Come from Away is also the proud recipient of a 2019 Olivier Award for best direction of a musical.

Come from Away in happy action

Tel Aviv on Fire, Film, Israel 2018, directed by Sameh Zoabi, 8* out of 10

With the multi-award-winning “Tel Aviv on Fire”, Israeli-Palestinian-Arab writer and director Sameh Zoabi brings us a funny, intelligent and most enjoyable comedy/farce against the absurd background of the multi-layered relationship between the Palestinians living in Jerusalem and West of the Jordan and Jewish Israelis. For security reasons, Israeli soldiers interfere sometimes reluctantly sometimes over-enthusiastically, always significantly in the lives of the Palestinians living in East- Jerusalem and on the Westbank of the Jordan. That interference is largely unwelcome, but after more than 50 years, can lead to unexpected areas of reluctant cooperation. It has great potential not only for drama and tragedy but also for irony and humour. And there is plenty of irony and humour to be found here.

Salem (Kais Nashef), a Jerusalemite Palestinian has obtained a minor job on the Palestinian Soap opera “Tel Aviv on Fire” through literal nepotism: his uncle Bassem (Nadim Sawalha) is the producer. The soap opera is a fictional story playing in 1967 about a Palestinian woman, played by the French Arab actress Tala (Lubna Azabal) who pretends to be an Israeli Jewess and tries seduce an Israeli general (Yousef Sweid) played by a Palestinian Arab actor and have him reveal Israel’s secret military plans. Salem’s excellent knowledge of Hebrew makes him the go-to guy for authentic Hebrew dialogue between them. The soap opera is a hit in the Palestinian territories and Israel particularly with the female demographic. When Salem tries to verify one of his Hebrew expressions (something like sex bomb) at an Israeli checkpoint, the bomb part, gets him an unintended interview with the checkpoint’s commanding officer, Captain Assi Tzur (Yaniv Biton) and lets him believe that he is a writer on “Tel Aviv on Fire”. Bored with his checkpoint command, and convinced of his yet untried talents as a creative in the media industry, Assi coerces Salem into giving him influence on the development of the plot and the character of the Israeli General, initially to impress his wife and her girlfriends. Salem finds himself between the rock of the Israeli checkpoint officer who wants to be a screenwriter and the hard place of satisfying the Arab financiers of the soap opera he works on. 

In the 21st century we have become so used to the fact that reality mirrors the most unlikely soap opera plots. Moreover, the actors who are believed to be their fictional characters by their viewers are becoming the most successful politicians in elections. Therefore, it is almost a relief when a comedy farce comes along where it is fiction which subtly chimes with reality and not the other way round. 

The screenplay for Tel Aviv on Fire is written by a Palestinian-Israeli graduate of Tel Aviv and Columbia University Sameh Zoabi and Dan Kleinman a professor teaching in the Columbia University Screenwriting Program. Here is a film about a soap opera which is being developed against the ever more misunderstood and often absurd context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its thesis is that the psychological and practical adaptations of Israelis and Palestinians to their situation can be seen not only as drama and tragedy but also as giving rise to irony and humour on both sides. And you the viewer can decide about the plausibility of that thesis.

It is, of course, easier to see the humour in the situation if you are a Palestinian-Arab with Israeli citizenship or a professor at Columbia University living in New York than if you are a Palestinian Arab living West of the Jordan in the permanent limbo of a situation which is marked by restrictions on travel as well as delay and potential humiliation at checkpoints. Nevertheless, Tel Aviv of Fire is a competently directed if a bit messy comedy which often hits the spot. Strong performances by Kais Nashef and Yaniv Biton as well as Lubna Azabal a Belgian actress with Moroccan and Spanish roots playing a Palestinian French actress in turn playing a Palestinian woman spy pretending to be the Israeli Jewish lover of an Israeli General before the 1967 six-day war. Confused? You won’t be once you have seen this very enjoyable and witty comedy, which richly deserves the international awards it has already received. Warmly recommended.

http://www.artemisproductions.com/en/films/Tel_Aviv_On_Fire

Ask Dr. Ruth, Documentary USA (2019), directed by Ryan White starring Ruth Westheimer Ph.D., 10* out of 10

Ryan White’s documentary on the life and times of 92-year-old bundle of positive energy and fine humour, the celebrity media personality and sex-therapist Ruth Westheimer, an orphan of the holocaust, speaks to the human being in all of us. Don’t miss it.

At 92 years of age and 146cm tall Ruth Westheimer, Ph.D. is larger than life. Her smile is irresistible, her energy irrepressible, her charm inescapable, her sharp brain unimpeachable. 
“Ask Dr. Ruth” the title of this documentary about the life and times of Ruth Westheimer, was also the name of the radio programme about sex, emotions, and relationships which became a surprise blockbuster success in the New York of the early 1980s. It laid the foundation for her national and later worldwide celebrity status. Ruth Westheimer was in her mid-forties working as an academically qualified sex therapist and post-Doctorate researcher, having recently obtained a Ph.D. in psychology. With great empathy and down-to-earth common-sense, she answered listener’s questions about sex while breaking many taboos about the use of explicit language describing sexual acts and caresses. The German accent from the Frankfurt-am-Main region of the State of Hesse became her trademark. The indefatigable human energy, evident since early childhood, persists until today. At the age of 92 she works as a lecturer, speaker, author, television personality; her memory of names and events is clear and her step is quick as she tackles every busy day while making time for meaningful interactions with close family and friends. She seems to pass on some of this energy to friends and lovers who in their 80s and 90s recall the younger Ruth when she was still Carola Siegel.

Director Ryan White has persuaded Dr. Ruth to be the subject of his feature-length documentary which delves into Ruth Westheimer’s 90 or so years of a life intensely lived. He shows that what is seen by the public is only the already impressive tip of an impressively massive iceberg of her life-experience and educational attainments. Westheimer’s life is a story full of creative responses to the enormous challenges and tragedies with which Ruth Westheimer was confronted from the age of 10, when her German compatriots under the leadership of Adolf Hitler and the institutions of his National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) turned on the Jews in their country and the world with murderous intent. Ruth Westheimer credits her resilience to a wonderful childhood gifted to her by her parents and her grandmother up to the age of 10 where a belief in the paramount importance of learning and education was an essential part of the family values which were passed on to her in a loving atmosphere.

When she was 10 years old her parents decided to send her with other Jewish children to Switzerland, where she spent World War II in a Swiss orphanage. The Jewish kids were treated as second class orphans who had to clean and work for the Swiss orphans to earn their keep. Having spent all the war-years in Switzerland, she does not see herself as a Holocaust-Survivor, but as a Holocaust-orphan: none of Ruth Westheimer’s close family survived the systematic murder of the Jews by the Germans under their Nazi-leadership. The documentary, sometimes effectively using beautiful animation, is also a document of important events of 20th-century Western history, taking us with Dr. Ruth, to Palestine-Israel, Paris and New York. 

Ryan White and his team have done a great job capturing many facets of Ruth Westheimer’s personality by following her through a busy year or two and by allowing us to see her through the eyes of other people who know her well, both young and old. Being friends with Dr. Ruth from her childhood onwards seems to give people of all ages access to the secret of a kind of inner optimism and prolonged youth – many of her friends are in their late eighties and truly young at heart.

Watching Ryan White and his crew try to keep up with the whirlwind that is Ruth Westheimer is an unmissable feast of joy and tragedy, drama and resilience, a triumph of profound humanity over unmitigated evil. She is a true hero of our time and a shining example to young and old. Westheimer’s is a life lived with passion and persistence, with bright intelligence, optimism, and love in the face of enormous obstacles. 

“Ask Dr. Ruth” is superb entertainment, as well as an intelligent practical statement about women’s self-empowerment, the Holocaust, sex and emotions, Israeli and US history rolled into an exciting and heart-warming package that strengthens our faith in the strength of the human spirit. In short, it’s the essential Dr. Ruth who speaks to the human being in all of us. A tour de force not to be missed.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9353586/

Dr. Ruth answers my questions 

Jerusalem Film Festival 2019

The Hunt, Play, adapted by David Farr from screenplay by Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm, Almeida Theatre, London, 10* out of 10

The Hunt is a brilliant play about suspicion and the breakdown of trust in a rural community in Denmark. Do not be put off from seeing it just because an accusation of sexual abuse of a child is its starting point. There is so much more to this play including decency, warmth, and loyalty in the most difficult of circumstances. David Farr's adaptation of the original film script is an unqualified success and the team of creatives and actors at the Almeida has done an excellent job with this flawless and powerful production. 

Lucas (Tobias Menzies), has become a kindergarten teacher in the Danish village where he grew up. He is also part of a hunting club, where the men of the village meet to hunt and drink and go to the sauna together in a tradition. Hunting successes are celebrated and hunting failures are mocked at sumptuous meals where the prey is devoured while alcohol and conversation flow freely. Men will be boys and membership passes from father to son. 

Lucas has just gone through a lengthy divorce and his son Marcus (Stuart Campbell) has to decide whether he wants to live with his mother or with Lucas. 

Lucas is very much liked by the children in the kindergarten, among them Clara (Florence White), the daughter of Theo (Jethro Skinner) one of his best friends and Mikala (Poppy Miller) who has not quite overcome her teenage crush for Tobias. After Clara has caught a glimpse of a porn video on the smartphone of her friend Peter (George Nearn Stuart), she mentions to the head-teacher of the kindergarten, Hilde (Michelle Austin), that she has seen Lucas with his erect penis and he asked her to touch it.

The headteacher quickly jumps to the plausible conclusion that 5-year-old Clara cannot have invented such a story even though Lucas, of course, denies it. Hilde suspends Lucas, informs the parents of all the children in the kindergarten of her suspicions and asks accountant and school board member Per (Howard Ward) to speak to Clara and the other children. As the investigation proceeds, Lucas defends himself and tries to stand his ground as he is ostracised by the community of which he was part.

The Hunt started its life as a brilliant screenplay and film by Danish filmmakers Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm starring Mats Mikkelsen. I reviewed the film here in 2012 (https://alondontheatergoer.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-hunt-original-title-jagten-film.html). I usually do not usually see the point of adapting an excellent film script for the theatre, but David Farr's adaptation is an unqualified success. Moreover, the team at the Almeida has done a brilliant job and created a flawless and powerful production. At the centre of Es Devlin's set is a glasshouse at times transparent at times opaque around which the production turns. The direction by Rupert Goold is outstanding, the acting ensemble performs at a very high level, such that singling any performances out seems almost unfair. But the children are excellent, Michelle Austin, Poppy Miller and Jethro Skinner outstanding. Tobias Menzies' performance as Lucas is nuanced, gritty and realistic.

It's productions like this that continue to make coming to London a must for anyone anywhere in the world who loves the theater. "Vaut le voyage" as the Michelin tourist guide would say. 

https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/the-hunt/17-jun-2019-3-aug-2019

 The Hunt

  

93Queen, Documentary 2018, written and directed by Paula Eiselt, 9* out of 10

93Queen is a thrilling documentary about the fine political struggle by Rachel "Ruchie" Freier, for women’s empowerment in the Jewish Hassidic community Borough Park New York City. It is a struggle for change from within for achieving acceptance in an environment which is particularly resistant for reasons of religion and tradition. Ruchie Freier is a great protagonist and Paula Eiselt a talented filmmaker. You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy this film. Highly Recommended.

Rachel “Ruchie” Freier is a mother of 6, living with her husband in the Haredi Hassidic community and neighbourhood of Borough Park Brooklyn. Ruchie is also an Attorney-at-Law who believes in women’s empowerment. With revolutionary ideas, she wants to change her community within in an evolutionary way within the boundaries of its rabbinic laws.

Ruchie has two ambitions for herself: to become a judge in Crown Heights and to set up and lead a Non-Governmental Organisation of volunteers, Ezros Noshim, which is an ambulance service by women for women in her community. When all her approaches to do this in cooperation with the existing highly successful all-male Hatzoloh Hassidic ambulance service are rebuffed, she decides to proceed against the resistance of many in her community. 

Ruchie wants to implement her ideas on her own terms and that means to set up and all female ambulance service by women for women while keeping to all the religious standards and most of the customs in her community where all the responsibility for housework and bringing up small children fall on the woman. And indeed, all her husband seems to offer is smiling moral support.

Rather than wanting to have it all, Ruchie Freier wants to do it all to a very high standard. Paula Eiselt follows Ruchie and her merry band of women as they attempt to set up their all-women ambulance service against strong resistance from their ultraconservative community and the often underhand and sometimes nasty attempts by the mighty male Hatzoloh organisation to prevent their female competition from coming into being. 

Ruchie Freier turns out to be tenacious and tough as well as a gifted politician with a will to power. She is ready to fight and capable of being ruthless to succeed. Ruchie’s route to women’s empowerment is the feminism that dare not speak its name. Will she succeed and what price will she have to pay for her attempt to bring change the Hassidic Community of Borough Park?

With great content and a great protagonist, director Paula Eiselt has hit upon an excellent subject for her award-winning first documentary. She succeeds in capturing the character of the ambitious and politically astute “Ruchie” Freier. Ruchie and her band of merry married women from Borough Park do not want to transgress the religious boundaries of their Haredi Hassidic community. They crave endorsement of their project by its all-male Rabbinic leaders. Above all, as they constantly explore the limits of what is possible for them, against strong resistance from the Hatzoloh organisation and the ultraconservative forces within their community, they need help and support from outside to realize their dream. These outside encounters are little jewels attentively captured by Paula Eiselt, a graduate of the prestigious New York University Tisch film-school. One of them is with a black paramedic trainer, who expresses his empathy and advice. His father told him that as a black man he had to work twice as hard and be twice as good as white men to succeed. He encourages the Hassidic women whom he admires and tells them that the same is true for them. Then, there is the black lady trainer who explains the different rhythms of heart massage: one as a waltz, one as a tango and she dances both, as her keen students of “Ezros Noshim” look on in wonder.

Another special moment is provided by the young Haredi woman, who at 30, believes herself beyond the age where she has any hope of finding a husband in her Hassidic community. Being unmarried, she won’t be allowed to join the frontline of “Ezros Noshim” volunteers. Miraculously, in her view, she finds a husband. What’s more she can hardly believe that her future husband gets all her geeky Star-Wars and Lord of the Rings references because he also secretly and disobeying his community’s censorship, watched the movies and read the books next to his Talmudic studies.

The music by Laura Karpman with vocalist Perle Wolfe cofounder of the girl-group Bulletproof Stockings provides a special touch; Perle Wolfe, who grew up in a Hassidic family herself, gives a re-interpretation of the biblical "Eshes Chayil" (Proverbs 31:10): Who can find a woman of valour? Filmmaker Paula Eiselt, may be one herself and so is her protagonist Ruchie Freier and quite of few others shown in this delightful documentary.

https://www.93queen.com/

Rachel "Ruchie" Freier

The Lehman Trilogy, Play, by Stefano Massini directed by Sam Mendes, National Theatre Production transfer to Piccadilly Theatre London, 10* out of 10

A revolving glass cube which functions as open plan office, outfitters shop and home space with silhouettes of towns and cities projected on a background giant screen; three eminently capable actors; this is all that director Sam Mendes needs to tell Stefano Massini’s version of the story of the three Lehman Brothers from Rimpar in Bavaria. The play charts their and their descendants’ rebirths and transformations, from arrival in New York to Montgomery, Alabama and back to New York to the family businesses’ meteoric rise, slow decline and sudden fall. Highly recommended.

In 1844 the 22-year-old Chayim soon to be Henry Lehman (Simon Russell-Beale), son of religious Jewish parents, emigrates from Rimpar near Würzburg in Bavaria to Montgomery Alabama where he opens an outfitters shop for ladies and gentlemen. Among other things, he sells cotton fabrics which are produced in the Northern States of the Union from the cotton grown by rich farmers and picked by their black slaves. He is soon joined by his brother Emmanuel (Ben Miles) and in 1850 by the youngest, Mayer Lehman (Adam Godley). With a peculiar internal dynamic of conflict and mediation among the three brothers, they are constantly striving to expand, extend and transform their business with an irrepressible entrepreneurial instinct to take advantage of the opportunities they identify in the New World. For them and their descendants, business and family life merge as the business moves from retail tailoring, via commodity brokerage to finance. As time goes by, the Lehman family climbs the economic and social ladder right to the top, but a significant element of business and reputational risk remains to the family name after transfer from family business to public company.

Italian author Stefano Massini has an unusual background, as his Roman Catholic parents sent him both to Italian state schools and Jewish academy. He speaks Hebrew (as well as Arabic) and captures the changing role of religious observance in the Lehman family knowledgeably and authoritatively. The Lehman Trilogy started as a radio play in 2012 and gained international fame in its Italian theatre version directed by the late great Luca Ronconi at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. It has been translated in more than 11 languages since. The very good English translation is by Mirella Cheeseman and the play is adapted by Ben Power.

Director Sam Mendes and his creative team, of which award-winning set designer Es Devlin, movement director Polly Bennett and Video designer Luke Halls deserve special mention, manage to make this single play entertaining and watchable. Lehman Trilogy is a single play; trilogy here refers either to the original three brothers or the three acts of the play or perhaps the three never- boring hours of its length. The Lehman Trilogy provides the three outstanding actors, who slip in and out of various roles with a significant and, no doubt enjoyable challenge. Simon Russell-Beale, Ben Miles and Adam Godley meet it brilliantly.

Interesting, entertaining and informative the Lehman Trilogy has what it takes to be one of the highlights of great new theatre in the 2018/2019 season. Don’t miss it.

https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/the-lehman-trilogy

Sweat, Play, written by Lynn Nottage directed by Lynette Linton, Gielgud Theatre, London, 7.5* out of 10

Black American woman playwright Lynn Nottage’s multi- award-winning drama charts the collapse of formerly stable and secure structures in America’s industrial rustbelt at the turn of the 21st century due to neoliberalism and globalization. I found it somewhat predictable and bleak, but Sweat, originally at the Donmar Warehouse now at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s Westend, is a high-quality production well written, directed and with strong acting performances by a talented ensemble. 

Reading, Pennsylvania in the period from the Bill Clinton to the George W. Bush Presidency. At the start of the play, it is 2008 we meet two young men who have just left prison having committed a crime involving violence and meet each with the local parole officer Evan (Sule Rimi). Jason (Patrick Gibson) is a young white adult donning white supremacist tattoos and angry with the world. Chris (Osy Ikhile) is about the same age black; he is angry with himself for having thrown away a chance of a good life through one act of thoughtless violence brought about by a feeling of powerlessness and frustration. We flashback to 2000 to a bar in the Pennsylvania rustbelt where a group of friends including Jason, Chris, their mothers, Tracey (Martha Plimpton) and Cynthia (Clare Perkins) and their mothers' friend Jessie (Leanne Best) meet after work. Everyone except Jason’s father Brucie (Will Johnson) work at the local manufacturing plant and are members of the local union. This makes them privileged manual workers as they earn good salaries. The manager of the bar Stan (Stuart McQuarrie) also used to work at the plant until an accident led to him being laid off. The young Hispanic immigrant Oscar (Sebastián Capitán Viveros) helps with the work in the Bar. We follow the group of friends for the next 8 years as their comfortable economic situation gives way to increasing economic and social precariousness. This is caused by the politics of neoliberalism and globalisation during the Bill Clinton and George W Bush presidencies. The North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Mexico, Canada, and the USA negatively affects the manual workers in the Pennsylvania rust belt. It undermines the bargaining power of their union as the owners of manufacturing plants can credibly threaten to move these to Mexico where wages and pension benefits are a fraction of those in the US. Wages are reduced and any attempts at strike action are costly for the workers and doomed to fail. Each of the people who used to be friendly drinking at the bar reacts differently to the threat of economic and social decline and doom they are facing and this leads to conflicts breaking out among them.

Sweat written in 2015 is the second play by the female black American writer Lynn Nottage to win the Pulitzer Prize. The first was the deeply affecting Ruined (2009) about women and rape as a tactic of war in the Congolese civil war. It premiered shortly before Donald Trump’s inauguration wit perfect timing showing how the high earning workers of the rustbelt who had always voted Democrat had felt abandoned by the Clintons, if not by the entire Democratic Party and felt that they had bigger problems of survival, alcohol, drugs than voting Democrat at a presidential election. Sweat looks sympathetically at these non-voters or even potential trump-voters of the rust-belt states and was the first play to deal with that subject. Under Lynette Linton’s capable direction, it was premiered in London at the Donmar Warehouse in January 2019 and won the Olivier Award for Best New Play. 

Sweat is indeed a good play with not only an excellent acting ensemble but also a very successful creative team.

For my own taste though it is a bit too predictable. Notably, it is all the white characters that give themselves up fastest, while the black and Hispanic characters (with one exception who has already tried but failed) are attempting to exercise some agency against the overwhelming forces of capitalism and globalization which threaten to crush them. Racial and gender-based resentments come to the surface once economic pressures are perceived as overwhelming. Nevertheless, I can recommend Sweat as the kind of high-quality well-acted play for which I will always gladly spend money and time in the theatre. 

https://sweattheplay.com/

Lynn Nottage

Elif Shafak: How to Remain Sane in the Age of Populism, Pessimism and Political Uncertainty, organised by The Henry Jackson Society at the UK Houses of Parliament, 9* out of 10

At a recent event at the UK Houses of Parliament organised by the Henry Jackson Society and hosted by Lord Hylton, the novelist, academic and public intellectual provided acute analysis of the problems liberal democracy is facing as well as hope on how they can be addressed through dialogue and cooperation among all those who value democracy and the rule of law. Elif Shafak is a much-needed voice of reason and sanity. She is also an excellent speaker and listener.


Elif Shafak is a novelist, public intellectual and academic at home in Istanbul and London, with deep knowledge and a clear grasp of cultural, social and economic developments around the world. She grew up in Spain as the child of Turkish parents and moved to Istanbul as a child. Ms. Shafak has variously referred to herself as a cosmopolitan and as a Nomad. She certainly does not accept Theresa May’s statement in her speech to the Conservative Conference that citizens of everywhere are citizens of nowhere and says so; Moreover, Ms Shafak is clearly rooted in very specific local cultures of outward-looking cities Istanbul and London. 

At a recent event held at the UK House of Parliament, organized by the Henry Jackson Society and hosted by Lord Hylton, she spoke to an interested audience on maintaining once sanity in the age of populism.

In her talk, Ms. Shafak focussed on the threat posed to liberal democratic societies by ever more successful attempts to undermine the democratic institutions. In the past, western democracies were embedded in a legal framework that restricted what majorities can do and safeguarded a minimal set of rights of minorities, outsiders, eccentrics, and artists. This embedding is now being increasingly undermined by legal (though not always legitimate ways) of chipping away at these restrictions by means of majority decision. Often, what starts out as majoritarianism (the majority can decide more and more against the minority) then leads to authoritarianism. The institutional rules are changed by the majority such that it becomes ever more difficult to overturn it by democratic means. Hungary under Prime Minister Orban and in Turkey under President Erdogan have advanced along this path. Longstanding western democracies are not immune to such developments either: populist and authoritarian tendencies are clearly visible in the US under Trump and the rise of the populist right in Austria (where they were in government with their ministers having responsibility, for defence, the home affairs including security services), the Netherlands, Germany and so on. In Ms Shafak’s view, it is particularly regrettable that some mainstream parties have adopted as their policies certain demands made by populists thereby making extremist positions part of mainstream agendas. Ms. Shafak believes that this only strengthens populist extremes on the left and right.

Ms Shafak is concerned about the ever-sharper divisions that drive liberal democratic societies apart into ever more tribalist factions. In her answers to audience questions, she raised several concerns as well as pointing to possible ways of halting the dangerous rather fast drift towards authoritarianism and tribalism. Ms Shafak warns against the excessive optimism of the 1989 “end of history” rhetoric, but also against an excessive pessimism which leads to inaction and feelings of powerlessness and depression. She pleads for an attitude of critical or skeptical optimism which admits a belief in human agency and the possibilities of action by civil society. 

One important line of action is to further dialogue between different groups in society which have become ever more tribal partly through the effects of social media echo chambers. That includes the pro- and anti- Brexit camps in the UK, but also metropolitans who live in big cities vs. people who live in the countryside in many other regions of the world. The social media which were initially seen as exclusively a force for good, enabling civil society action against powerful oppressors now have revealed another side as facilities for whipping up strong negative emotions often with fake or manipulated material and shaping the local and international political discourse in potentially divisive and destructive ways. 

In her analysis of populism, Ms. Shafak follows ideas that are developed in Yasha Mounk’s book The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It and How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. She is also careful not to see populism as a movement that is exclusive to the right as Yannis Varoufakis and other figures of the left sometimes like to claim.

Ms Shafak who also teaches at various universities is concerned about the tendency to “safe spaces” and “no platforming”. These should only be employed in cases of clear incitement to hate or violence. Otherwise unpalatable views must be allowed to be heard, especially in academic institutions even when they make many or some in the audience feel uncomfortable. For Shafak, Hilary Clinton calling potential Trump voters “a basket of deplorables” was a nadir of the Hilary Clinton presidential campaign and a signal error of judgment by the candidate.

Answering a question about the importance of identity, Ms. Shafak emphasised the importance of the multiplicity of identities. She also voiced concern about the rise of identity politics on the left, something she sees as a negative and potentially damaging development. The emphasis of the qualities and characteristics all human beings have in common is a better starting point than the potentially conflict-inducing view of humanity as divided into different tribes based on dominating identities some of which benefit from intersectionality while others do not.

Shafak sees interdisciplinarity not only among different academic fields but also across culture, academia and every-day social and economic life as an important remedy against the rift in our liberal democracies.

Ms Shafak speaks eloquently straightforwardly and with conviction for liberal democracy and the rule of law. She describes herself a someone on the left of the political spectrum. While she is open to economic liberalism she is strongly opposed to neoliberalism, i.e. the advance of the market mechanism into all areas of our lives. She believes that that the big social media companies dominating the internet (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple) should be broken up as they have too much power and have not shown the commensurate level of responsibility; far from it.

There are issues Ms. Shafak touched on in her answers to questions from the audience on which I would have liked to hear more explanation. What kind of economic model does she favour as an alternative to the neoliberal capitalist one? Does she consider Germany’s social market economy neoliberal? Does she consider the current economic policies advanced by the European Union neoliberal? Ms Shafak also sees inequality as a major issue that must be addressed and mentioned that this also includes inequality of opportunity. The issue of inequality is often mentioned but I find reduction of inequality a concept that needs to be much better defined before it can be part of a practical political programme. For instance, I would like to hear more about the types of inequality that are considered harmful and those that are considered desirable because they are the basis of diversity in ideas and cultures.

Furthermore, even if harmful inequalities (presumably a great amount in inequality of income, wealth and access to resources which lend certain individuals and groups much more power and privilege than others) the methods with which such inequalities can be reduced remain unclear. It is often easier to reduce the excess by coercive means through presumably incorruptible people (Robespierre in the French Revolution for example) than increasing the income, wealth or access to privileges by the disadvantaged. 

I have yet to see concepts of tackling inequality that satisfy the left while preserving liberal democracy and a free society; forcible redistribution by the state does not seem an appropriately fair and legitimate mechanism. Clearly, there are differences about this in countries which are defined as liberal democracies, see for example The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. Even in societies with lower levels of inequality of income or wealth, there are still very rich and privileged people; there also is a broad consensus that the advantages to all the state services financed by higher taxes are worth it. Yet in those countries which are considered exemplary (the Nordic countries of Europe, Switzerland, Japan) that consensus is not necessarily permanent as some recent developments in Nordic Countries show. Moreover, the German SPD’s campaign under Martin Schulz which was built around the central idea of increased “social justice” did not find any lasting enthusiasm among voters.

Elif Shafak, as well as being a gifted novelist and capable academic, is among the internationally leading public intellectuals fighting for the liberal democratic order and the rule of law. She is an excellent speaker and an active and careful listener. One can only be grateful that she is a rare voice pleading for the dialogue and against the divisions and tribalist tendencies which are wracking our societies. The hope is that from the ranks of her readers and students more such figures will arise and find creative, promising and humane ways to address the enormous challenges our increasingly interconnected international community faces.

http://www.elifsafak.com.tr/home/

Elif Shafak's latest book is:
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World

Elif Shafak

The Starry Messenger, Play, written by Kenneth Lonergan, directed by Sam Yates, Wyndham’s Theatre London, 8* out of 10

Kenneth Lonergan’s Starry Messenger is not his greatest play but a solidly good one which I thoroughly enjoyed. Rosalind Eleazar shines as Angela, the star actors Elizabeth McGovern and Matthew Broderick give good performances. A very enjoyable evening at the theatre.

Kenneth Lonergan is a gifted author of plays for the theatre and the screen. Who could not have been moved by the heart-breaking “Manchester by the Sea”? In “The Starry Messenger”, Mark (Matthew Broderick) is a teacher of introductory courses on astronomy at a local observatory. He is passionate about astronomy and has his head in the Milky Way. His dream is to do actual project work in astronomy but it is apparently too late for that. On earth, Mark also takes everything he does very seriously and aims to please those around him. This can be somewhat trying and while he is outwardly calm and reasonable the varying demands some of his students, his mother in law as conveyed by his rather attractive wife Ann (Elizabeth Mc Govern), with legs reaching from earth up to planet Betelgeuse, and his teenage son which he tries to postpone indefinitely discussing or if forced to address, always to accommodate, sometimes lead to bottled up bouts of frustrated and barely suppressed anger. Into his life steps a new student, the attractive young Angela (Rosalind Eleazar), a single mother and trainee nurse, who at the local hospital has found a fatherly friend in the seriously ill Norman (Jim Norton). Tragedy, luck and potential happiness lie close together as their stories unfold. 

Kenneth Lonergan has written a pleasing drama with humorous and moving elements about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. This play will give hope to any man who is very nice, indecisive and easily led that his love life may become varied and fulfilled. But is there similar hope for the competent and decisive heterosexual middle-aged fellows in search of polyamory? I am afraid, we’ll have to wait for a future endeavour by Lonergan or another talented writer. Director Sam Yates and Production Designer Paul Hennessey have done a competent job. Matthew Broderick as Mark does what he needs to do in a role that demands mainly a single register of the henpecked frustrated yet always very nice guy. He is passive yet capable of making others want to help him. Elizabeth McGovern is very good as Mark’s attractive yet somewhat neglected wife Anne, Jim Norton very watchable as the wise elderly gentleman patient who flirts with his nurse and annoys his daughter. Rosalind Eleazar has the most interesting role and her performance is outstanding. Not a great play, but a well written and well played one to be watched and enjoyed. 

https://www.starrymessengerplay.com

Rosmersholm, Play, written by Henrik Ibsen directed by Ian Rickson, Duke of York’s Theatre London 8* out of 10

Ian Rickson and his team present a watchable and timely production of this dark Ibsen play supported by a strong acting ensemble.

Norway in the 1880s. Rebecca West (Hayley Attwell) is a resident at Rosmersholm, for centuries the family estate of the Rosmers. She has originally moved in as a companion to Beata, the wife of the head of the household and local Lutheran pastor, John Rosmer (Tom Burke), at the suggestion of Beata’s brother, Professor Kroll (Giles Terara), since Beata was becoming psychologically frail, but a year ago Beata has committed suicide by throwing herself from the bridge by the water mill. Kroll visits John Rosmer for the first time since the suicide. He has decided to be a candidate for the conservative Party at the upcoming elections and he seeks John Rosmer’s public endorsement for his party as Rosmer is influential as the scion of the foremost family and as the pastor. But Kroll finds that under Rebecca’s influence Rosmer has changed his past austere political views and is inclined to lend his support to Peder Mortensgaard (Jake Fairbrother), the editor of the progressive newspaper, whom Rosmer had previously named and shamed in front of his congregation, with tragic consequences for Mortensgaard. 

With its portrayal of political intrigue with the use of moral outrage over the past lives of opponents or those connected to them and the power of the media Ibsen’s play remains highly relevant. The strongest most interesting character in this play is Rebecca West. Although as a woman she has neither the right to be a candidate in elections nor the right to vote she has strong political convictions which she can only put into actions by her influence over John Rosmer. The male protagonist in Ibsen’s play often is deeply damaged in his emotional and sexual capacity by austere Norwegian protestant upbringing. Ibsen’s male characters would be a lot more content with a bit Danish Hygge and humour from their southern Scandinavian friends, although this may be to the detriment of the dark drama of Ibsen’s plays.

Thankfully Ian Rickson’s production is a straightforward story-telling of good quality with no tricks and heavy hinting towards contemporary parallels. Acting performances are of a high standard and the set by Rae Smith reflects the stifling atmosphere of Rosmersholm which suffocates attempts to bring in the fresh wind and the prospect of a life of purpose and contentment through political, moral and sexual liberation. Hayley Attwell as Rebecca and Tom Burke as John Romer have chemistry. Giles Terara (a black actor playing a Scandinavian bourgeois) is a lively and charismatic  Kroll.

An enjoyable evening in the theatre for those of us who like quality plays from the early 20th century in a straightforward production with excellent actors.

https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/rosmersholm