Showing @ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Thu 24 – Sat 26 Mar
The student protests feel as if they took place an age ago, but with new marches and demonstrations planned, the on-going skirmish against the government’s plan to (essentially) privatise corporate and commercial society will soon be spotlighted once more. In terms of sheer relevancy, James Graham’s new play Bassett, appearing as part of NT Connections 2011, anchors itself as a necessity in theatre. Acted by the Lyceum Youth Theatre and in collaboration with the Scribbles project by Young Traverse Writers, director Christie O’Carroll explores the outlook of young people today and how we must challenge the despotic regimes which loom over our student generation.
Graham manages to escape the perceived radicalism surrounding students at the minute by setting his play inside Wooten Bassett School. The supply teacher has scarpered, locking the kids in the classroom, and tensions are high as opinions clash over a “repatriation of fallen British soldiers” taking place on the high street. O’Carroll probes the conflicting views of young adults who have grown up in a world continuously at war and how the need for military intervention is coming under fire from our school kids. More importantly however, the text refocuses attention on students who are going through a media lull at the minute, allowing the metaphor for a disenfranchised generation to spread throughout society which is altogether reacting to the imposed austerity measures.
Whilst O’Carroll attempts to deconstruct the cultural prejudices held by society, it is by extension, a critique of the government which has instilled such beliefs. In politics, we create wars. Whether it is for oil, land, expansion or dominance, it breeds the idea that conflict is a solitary discourse in the overcoming of disagreement. It’s perhaps this inherent militancy which the classroom arguments and shifting attitudes will satirise. And it’s safe to say that the government don’t want us to challenge this precondition, as fear, bigotry and intolerance force us to cling on to the administrations we elect. So while Bassett can act as a discussion on individualism, it can underline what is necessary: a generation willing to confront the regimes (both social and political) that serve to restrict them.