GRIM’S DITCH (Place Prints/New Perspectives)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.newperspectives.co.uk/?idno=1168&s=82

Available until: Unknown

There are a lot of places in the UK called Grim’s Ditch. There is even one not that far away from where I live, though I have never been there. At least, I don’t think I have.

This Grim’s Ditch is in North Wessex, or Berkshire. Grim is another name for Woden, who I know best as Wotan in Der Ring des Nieblungen by Richard Wagner. The Anglo Saxons believe he was the one who dug the ditches. Perhaps he was hoping to make a river and attract English Rhinemaidens.

The story, however, focuses on the present. A professor is visiting Grim’s Ditch as he hopes to talk about it in a lecture later. He is very enthusiastic about this. The ditch observes him, making comments about him, not many of them kind. He doesn’t hear the ditch, but the ditch seems able to hear his thoughts.

The character of the ditch is very interesting. The Place Prints series focuses on the voices of someone or something you wouldn’t expect to have a voice. The first episode is the story of someone who was once a person but died many years ago. Episode 2 is about a church which has a voice.

But one thing I really noticed is that the voice in Episode 1 is a very sad, guilty voice. The church is lonely. But the ditch is very different. It seems quite comfortable with being a ditch and having little contact with people. It has the intelligence to think about things instead of just observing them. It has a sense of humour, though not always a very kind one. It makes judgements about other people. It is witty and sarcastic. It has knowledge of a disability which was only named for the first time in 1981, and which you wouldn’t necessarily expect to be discussed and explained in the middle of a ditch. But the ditch can read minds so the ditch knows everything.

I don’t like everything the ditch says, but I do think it (or she?) has a really good and really interesting personality and she makes a nice contrast with the less happy voices in the first two episodes. It is easy to think that something or someone alone must be lonely, but that is not always the case. Some people are very happy to be alone. Other people feel lonely when they are surrounded by other people.

There is one thing the ditch says which I was a bit upset by. The ditch wonders if the Professor has some form of autism. It is not unreasonable to wonder about that, though it wasn’t something I considered, but I didn’t like the way the ditch said it. It sounded quite sneery and dismissive. Maybe this is meant to show that the ditch isn’t a very nice ditch and that although it can read thoughts, it doesn’t really have that much understanding of people. (There is no reason why it should. Ditches are not humans.) But the play doesn’t really show the Professor in a very positive way and it feels like the autism comment is meant to be part of that so I think it could come across in a negative way towards autistic people. I don’t feel completely comfortable with that because there is too much negativity towards autistic people already. But I still think it is a very good play.

The ditch is played by Juliet Stevenson. She is a very talented actor and I saw her only yesterday in BBC Shakespeare’s Pericles. She has played many, many different roles, including the title role in The Duchess of the Malfi at the lovely Greenwich Theatre (I have never been there, but the people are lovely), Antigone, Giuseppe Verdi’s wife, lots of Shakespeare roles, Mrs Elton in Emma and Mrs Cratchit in A Christmas Carol. But I don’t think she’s ever played a ditch before.

Ms Stevenson is very good at playing a ditch. She brings the personality and the humour across strongly and there is something a little bit stern about her so if she tells you she’s a ditch, you definitely believe her! She also has a very beautiful voice and she pronounces her words very clearly, which is really helpful for people with a hearing impairment (there doesn’t seem to be text available for people who aren’t able to listen, which is sad).

There are two male actors in this play, Toby Jones (who was also in Episode 2, in a different role) and Jack Wilkinson. I think Mr Jones is Professor Marworth (I’m not sure how to spell that, but if I have got it wrong, it would be quite ironic) and Mr Wilkinson plays the smaller role. The Professor is really well-characterised. There is a really lovely earnestness about him and when he speaks (I’m not sure if he’s saying the words in his head or speaking them into his phone or something), he has exactly the right tone for a lecturer. He seems knowledgeable and he sounds passionate about his subject.

The other character isn’t in it very much, but he’s very interesting. He is full of contradictions and Mr Wilkinson really emphasises that. I think the he is someone from a book. I won’t say who, but it’s quite a famous book.

This is a very interesting story and I love the way David Rudkin has created the atmosphere and the characters. I love the idea of a ditch that talks.