The premise of this play was promising – it is based on the Occupy movement in Oakland, taking inspiration from actual signs displayed in the protest. Unfortunately, the spelling mistakes made on the signs spoke of what was to come; a series of contrived, offensive and horrendously stereotypical portrayals of all those involved in the movement.
The play began with the cast pretending to be part of a protesting crowd in Oakland. Projected onto the wall behind was real footage of the movement, proving to be the most interesting and informative part of the production. This slow motion re-enactment to the song ‘Glory, Glory Hallelujah’ went on for far too long and meant that the audience lost interest almost immediately.
The structure of the play consisted of every character declaring ‘Do you want to know why I’m here?’ and then going on to give a short monologue. This seemed unnatural and meant that the production lacked fluidity and pace. Despite the chants of ‘we are the 99 per cent’, the characters depicted were almost farcical. From a guitar-playing, flower-wearing hippy to a female soldier shouting at the audience with bizarre intonation, each depiction of a social group seemed insulting. To make matters worse, the racial stereotypes were cringe-worthy, with an African-American woman selling fried chicken and a Latino woman with drawn-on eyebrows and covered in fake tattoos.
The production seemed to lack any coherent message. Whilst the majority of the play explores the corruption of American politics, the conclusion undermined and subverted this premise. We were left with the hollow and rather cheesy comment delivered by a policeman that ‘We all have a heart, just like you…’
The only redeeming quality about the play was the enthusiasm the young cast displayed. It was not so much the quality of the acting itself, as the hideously stereotypical roles in which they were cast that was the problem.
There was a great opportunity here to shed some light on a complex and highly influential movement, attempting to change the narrative of American politics. Unfortunately the production fell devastatingly short of presenting any real insight on the matter. Despite having real potential, the result was greatly disappointing.
