Pages: Promised Land

A fringe show with four writers, three directors, two composers, a cast of fifteen and an even larger production team sounds like a recipe for disaster. When you think of everything that could have gone wrong, it could so easily have been more than disastrous, but it wasn’t. MokitaGrit Productions have succeeded in tying these elements together to bring something new and exciting to the international theatre scene. They have come up with a unique blend of theatre and musical theatre which defies narrow interpretation. Their newest production is, simply put, original and unique, and that makes it very exciting. It’s the story of George, a claustrophobic recluse, who interacts with the outside world via the adopted persona of a newspaper agony aunt, a role he has taken over from his sister, who married and migrated. Or at least, that’s the story George tells – the rest of the cast take on roles of people trapped in their problems. Whether they are real people or whether they are figments of his imagination or creations which emerge from his dreams is a riddle deliberately left unsolved for the audience to work out. This is the crux behind the dramatic tension which permeates the piece, as four stories are played out against the backdrop of George’s routine. The stories are well-crafted and blend together successfully, which is a credit to the vision and production talent of Joe Fredericks, the Concept Director and particularly talented composer who conceived of this piece. His ability to bring together the work of so many people and weave it seamlessly together is admirable. Like George, the main characters in the stories are trapped in their own worlds – reacting to social pressures, lonely, isolated, in search of meaning and intimacy – and when the moments of release come, they are literally touching. Dramatically, the dénoument is inevitable. And despite the deep exploration of qualities of metaphysical time and space in the production, there is but one way out. What saves the show from being predictable is the drive and passion behind the music – the unique blend of musical theatre and theatre which is a key part of how this piece is structured. The songs which frame the stories are performed flawlessly by the strong cast members, all able to use their voices with versatility and pizzazz. With no vocal coach on the production list, it is a heartening testament to musical theatre training and the sharp ears of casting director Ellie Collyer-Bristow. The cast members sing, whisper, croon, belt and punctuate the drama, accenting and contrasting with the intriguing sound sculpture by Tom Martin which also acts as an intriguing framing device within the piece, producing atmosphere, evoking setting, and adding to the dramatic experience in yet another form. There was more that could have been done in terms of integrating music and sound with the progress of the story – but the piece clearly worked on its own terms and certainly provoked a number of stimulating conversations afterwards – the themes still bouncing about in my head musically and dramatically as I write … who makes the promises behind the ‘promised land’ of the title, why do we buy into them, and what happens when we choose not to – do we just end up replacing one set of ‘promises’ with another? And what is the result of taking a cynical-realist view (as one of the characters - Poppy in Poppy’s Promise – does) of labeling the ‘promised land’ unreachable and giving up? Is she being honest, or defeatist, or is she just reflecting one aspect of a complex thought-process going on in George’s head which is part of an extended journey towards a solution to his internal metaphysical crisis? The most satisfying answer I found was not in the dramatic climax of the story, but hidden in the musical setting of the final piece – it’s just one of many possible answers you could take away. What works about the whole experience is its open-endedness, its playful premise that there is an expectation of a ‘promised land’ of theatrical development inherent in the theatrical experience, and of musical composition. To use this structure, to bring things to a close in seemingly perfect cadences, musically and dramatically and yet still compelling so much individual interpretation from the audience is not just three hours of darn good theatre … it’s a work of genius.