In 2011 a feminist punk rock group, calling themselves Pussy Riot, donned their bold balaclavas and took siege of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior and gave a performance that won’t be forgotten anytime soon. Three of the members were arrested for hooliganism and Putin was enraged but Ria Ashcroft, Kristy Guest, Hannah Stone and Rebecca D’Souza were inspired. Entering the theatre space wearing brightly coloured clothes and their own balaclavas, they too seek to promote change.
The all female Gramophones Theatre Company who jokingly claim to be concerned about ducks and air hostesses ups the ante to bring us something distantly Brechtian. Their collaborative piece tracks their own journeys which were motivated by making a difference, artfully blending mixed media, audience interaction and physical theatre into an unadulterated treat. Using projections, picket signs, ladders and whiteboards, they quirkily animate their honest struggles to fight against the injustices of sexism, food waste and animal cruelty.
This piece is self-referential, asking the questions we are all wondering - why don’t you just go out and protest about all these issues that you have brought up in this play. In an attempt to explain, they candidly weigh up the pros and cons of protesting. They unquestionably raise some valid points against, such as the violence and the misrepresentation involved with political activism. Here stands the only downfall of the play: while they validate why they don’t go out to protest and make politically driven plays instead, they provoke and remind the audience of the many injustices of the world, which weighs heavy on the conscience. Therefore, on the one hand they highlight the problems with in protesting, yet on the other hand they give us no suggestions on how we could make a change, especially since we all can’t be as talented at making theatre. For these creative and altruistic girls the real success of their play depends on whether they rally people into some sort of action, action which was not defined.
The Smallest Light has big potential: to make a difference, it’s up to the audience to figure out what that is. Fuelled with good and genuine intent, The Gramophones Theatre Company brings us an arousing, fun, inventive piece that will get you thinking.
