Mad Forest: A Play from Romania Book

(5/10) Maybe this would have been better performed -- it's a funny thing, reading a stageplay instead of watching it, but given how rarely I go out to the theatre it's necessary to try and explore this area of literature. But this just left me cold and a bit confused. Churchill sets her play around the Romanian revolution that deposed the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The problem is that Churchill doesn't really seem to have much to say about the revolt other than the obvious trumpeting of liberty. At times she actively tries to write around historical fact, trying to push the Western image of the revolution as anti-communist over the fact that, when given a free vote, the Romanians chose to put the Communists back into power.

Structurally the play consists of two relatively conventional acts, set before and after the revolution, about two interlocked families, and a choral centrepiece which is a kind of "voice of the people" portrayal of the revolution. It's interesting to see such a socialistic technique -- Eisensteinian types collectively overthrowing the old order, each worker accorded his own opinion -- in an anti-communist play. Whether this is intentional irony or ideological undercutting and appropriation depends on your viewpoint and how much credit you're willing to give Churchill. As for the more conventional acts, the highlight is the super-realist dialogue, where characters will interrupt and talk over each other with no regard for the viewer. Unfortunately, the characters and plot in this section are one-dimensional and flat, and I never found a reason to care about any of it.

With some work the central choral section could have been expanded into a decent work, as contained within is a nascent sense of the chaos that all revolutions, even the most just, are filled with. But as a whole Mad Forest seems like a cautionary tale of trying to adapt current events for the stage.