March 20, 2003. A date that the ordinary people of Iraq will never forget. A day that changed their lives forever. The day the Americans arrived in their country. New York Theatre Workshop's award-winning actor/directors Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, from Tim Robbins' Actors Gang, visited Jordan to discover first hand what happened to Iraqi civilians as a result of the events that began on that fateful day. They interviewed some 35 people - a cross-section of lives interrupted - who fled the chaos and violence that befell Iraqi society for the relative safety of Jordan. Aftermath is the harsh and mind-blowing drama that tells these people's stories first hand.
Aftermath, Old Vic Tunnels
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3.2 (5) |  |
0.0 (0) |
| Venue | Old Vic Tunnels (click for full venue information) |
General
| Genres | 21st Century • Dance |
| Begins previews | 08 July 2010 |
| Closing / Booking until | 17 July 2010 |
| Production website | http://www.oldvictheatre.com/whatson.php?id=66 |
Cast & Creatives
- Author/Writer Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen
Editor reviews
Average editor rating from: 5 user(s)
Irresistible
| Rating: | 4.0 |
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| Review | Here's a theatrical event with real cross-generational appeal: it's witty without being arch, charming but not twee, and it tempers its nostalgia with surprisingly steely political conviction. E Nesbit's classic Edwardian story about Roberta, Peter, Phyllis and their mother, who move to the Yorkshire countryside after their father is mysteriously whisked away by police from their comfortable home in the London suburbs, offers heart-wrenching family drama from a child's eye view. Presenting Mike Kenny's deft adaptation in a real railway station ingeniously galvanises it, lending a sense of spectacle. Not only is the action underpinned by the groanings, rumblings and clankings of the Waterloo commuter trains, but the original steam engine from the well-loved 1970 film version makes two exhilarating, climactic appearances. |
| Written by | Sam Marlowe |
| Full review | http://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/event/182281/the-railway-children |
A country stripped of its dignity, stabbed in the heart
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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| Review |
The dank tunnels under Waterloo station, lately colonised by the Old Vic, and rattling with the sound of goods trains overhead, provide a weird atmosphere of desolation. Just as well, as the show itself lacks any real dramaturgical cohesion. But theatre is sometimes just as powerful when operating as tribunal or debating chamber. And these voices – collated in interviews with 37 Iraqi civilians in Jordan – are well worth hearing if only to heighten awareness about the Iraqi invasion. |
| Written by | Michael Coveney |
| Full review | http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/aftermath-old-vic-tunnels-london-2025025.html |
A damp and chilly message
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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| Review | We are in danger of becoming over-familiar with the techniques in this sort of drama, but it’s hard not to be moved by the plight of these people, and it’s ironic indeed to hear a theatre director struggle with ideas as how best to communicate his country’s tragedy. Is there any good coming of the situation there? Judging by this show, the prospect is bleak indeed. |
| Written by | Michael Coveney |
| Full review | http://www.whatsonstage.com/reviews/theatre/london/E8831278921867/Aftermath.html |
Iraqi stories
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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| Review | It’s set in the labyrinthine Old Vic tunnels under Waterloo, with trains overhead like distant bombers. Thus oddly, for the next week the station is a metaphor. Above in the old Eurostar terminal, The Railway Children evokes a happy-ending Edwardian Britain where daddies are let out of prison because it was all a mistake. Below is chronicled another world, where no childish courage or adult integrity will save you, because your land is stripped naked. |
| Written by | Libby Purves |
| Full review | http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/stage/theatre/article2636495.ece |
Deserves to be staged in a more sympathetic space
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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| Review | Underground theatre is all the rage. But this brick-walled space directly beneath Waterloo Station strikes me as an ill-chosen venue for a piece of verbatim theatre comprising interviews with Iraqis driven to seek refuge in Jordan. The material is fascinating. However the production, part of the London International Festival of Theatre, is not helped by having to compete with the thunderous rumble of trains overhead. |
| Written by | Michael Billington |
| Full review | http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/jul/09/aftermath-michael-billington |
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