Showing @ Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh until Sun 25 Aug @ 12:20
Students are often ridiculed for being idealistic. Existing in a bubble, they’re able to worry about the world because they don’t have to worry about the mortgage. In life however, outside eyes are seen as conducive to solving problems. Why such arbitrary inversion? Perhaps because they could solve problems. This same derisory prejudice pervades Revolution Society. When a group of students set up a society for revolutionaries, they find themselves in a quandary; what are they revolting against? In search of answers, they set up a new republic in the heart of middle-England to pilot their ideas.
This is a nice enough piece about the naivete of youth. The actors are entertaining and the script has enough titter to tickle the unconcerned. What the play does well is lampoon the empty posturing which pervades much of student culture – the contrarian for image’s sake. It also foregrounds the current generation’s lack of imagination by showing all revolutionary ideas having recourse to late-capitalism. However, precisely this reveals the play’s own lack of imagination. Moreover, Revolution Society is about middle-class characters who exist in a bubble, able not to worry about the world because they don’t have to worry about the mortgage.