THIS BEAUTIFUL VIRTUAL VILLAGE (Abbey Theatre, Dublin)***

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/this-beautiful-virtual-village/ Tickets £5

Available until: 17^th September 2020

Six neighbours arrange a Zoom call to discuss a piece of graffiti in their local community. The graffiti says someone named Jessica is a slut.

There’s a feeling it should be quite simple. Do they pay for the graffiti to be painted over or not?

But it’s not that simple. These six people might live in the same community, but they all have their own opinions, beliefs and experiences – and one has a secret which he really doesn’t want the others to know about.

This play begins with an act of cruelty against an insect. I found this unnecessary, though it could be a metaphor for the way in which the characters would take swipes at each other once their different beliefs are slowly revealed. But what I did like was that it provided a bit of physical action and a very different opening to a conventional Zoom call. A bit more interesting than ‘hello’.

It was also a very original way of making it clear that the characters were having a Zoom conversation. Many Zoom theatre companies like The Show Must Go Online and Shakespeare Happy Hours use Zoom in order to perform the plays, but the characters aren’t using Zoom. The characters who are onscreen are physically together. We understand and accept that – but it does mean that in a play where not just the actors but the characters are on Zoom, this needs to be explained. The fly plot device ensured this happened quickly, cleverly and naturally.

I really liked the premise of the story because it enabled the writer, Lisa Tierney-Keogh, to bring together six characters who wouldn’t normally all sit down and have a conversation. This provides great opportunities for conflict.

The characters make some very valid points. Liz (Amy Conroy) points out the implied sexism in the graffiti; Grace (Bethan Mary-James) is determined that their actions will not expose anyone to racism. Maggie (Pom Boyd)’s expectation that Grace would know every Asian person is very wrong (Grace wouldn’t know every Asian in the area even if she was Asian), but I think it’s important to realise that there are people like Maggie making these sorts of comments and that some people hold these beliefs without realising it.

Paul (Luke Griffin)’s comment that not everything negative about women is misogynism is also valid because a negative comment about one woman does not automatically mean that the speaker (or spraypainter) has the same opinion of every women. The graffiti says that Jessica is a slut, not that all women are. There might be an implication that Jessica isn’t behaving as women ‘should’, but it could just mean that Jessica isn’t behaving how this person wants her, as an individual, to behave.

I also found Philip (Steve Blount)’s comment that sexism doesn’t exist anymore interesting. Some sexism has disappeared. Men and women are legally equal and technically have the same rights. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy for women or that everyone accepts their rights. There’s also an implied, though probably unintentional sexism in Dara (Michael Ford-FitzGerald)’s need for gratitude in return for his culinary efforts.

There are some really interesting points made in this play which are really worth thinking about. But I do wonder how much the characters thought about it, and how much they will think about it once the Zoom call is over. They weren’t really interested in listening to each other. No-one changes as a result of the Zoom call.

Also, at some point, the play seemed to stop being about individuals. The more the issues are discussed, the more similar their personalities become. They all have opinions which are relevant and interesting, but characterisation isn’t just about what the characters believe – it’s about the way in which they express themselves. To begin with, there were differences between the personalities, particularly between the women – Liz was very forthright, Maggie outwardly nice but quite sneaky, and Grace calm and polite. But that slowly starts to disappear as the play becomes more about the issues than the people. Not everyone expresses anger in the same way.

It is difficult as there were some important points to be made and of course Lisa Tierney-Keogh wanted them to be made clearly and forcefully, but I do feel that, first and foremost, she’s telling a story about six characters who are trying to resolve a community problem. She’s created some interesting characters with a lot of potential, but somewhere along the way, the clear and forceful expression of the very valid points seems to become more important than the personalities and it feels more like an unresolved debate than a play.

But the actors save it to an extent by being so good. Even when they morph into the same character, they are a really strong ensemble and are compelling to watch and they make lots of really important points. I have reservations, but I did enjoy it.