Blog 21, Wrong Review, Black Watch (Derek)

In Chris Jones’s review of the 2012 production of BlackWatch, Jones makes it clear that he is seeing the play for the second time, having also seen it a few years earlier with a different cast and at a different historical moment. Jones should have compared the two productions as well as used the years’ intervening historical changes to interpret the current production in a new light. Unfortunately, he does not compare the two beyond a sentence acknowledging the change in cast, and he never uses the current historical moment to inform his reading of the play. I expected both. I also expected less hyperbole and empty rhetoric, such as “it’s a very shrewdly toned creation that gets to have its Scotch pie and eat it too.” Peppering the review with such turns of phrase conveys a vague feeling to the reader, but a review should really contain more concrete observations and descriptions so that the readers can get a clearer sense of what the production will be like. I would have liked to see him describe the venue in more detail, discussing the efficacy of using the armory in terms of the mise en scène, and how it affected the production and the audience’s reception. He should have discussed the use of bleachers, the scaffolding, the television sets, the projector, and the sparse props, including the clever use of the multi-purpose billiards table. How do these things affect the audience’s sense of theatricality? There should have been discussion of the singing, the dancing and the sign-language, as well as the slow-motion suspension after the explosion, especially in terms of how they either surprise, discomfit, or promote kinesthetic empathy in the audience. The review should also discuss themes, the dual settings (pub and Iraq), and the use of misogynistic humor. Rather than simply reference a Brecht play, explain exactly why it’s comparable, and also discuss whether Black Watch compels the audience to make moral choices. The end of the review, rather than being an obscure reference and a dinner recommendation, should be a warning to first-timers (esp. parents of children) about the adult content, loud noises, and strobe lights. And for readers who saw the previous production, there should be a sentence or two making the case for why they should or shouldn’t see it this time.