JACKAL RUN (Guildhall School of Music and Drama/Breach Theatre)*****

 

By Emma

Link: https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/spring_2021/jackal_run 

Available until: 30^th April

Jackal Run is based on a true story. It is absolutely terrifying to think that any of this could be real. It seems so cruel and unethical but it happened and maybe it’s something that could happen again.

A group of women discover that their partners are living under false identities. In some cases, they were still living together when they found out. In other cases, the partner disappeared suddenly, some time ago, and the women didn’t understand why at first. The relationship seemed good. Some of the couples had children. But then the men suffered sudden and severe mental health problems which caused them to leave – and never come back.

It wasn’t something they did just for the fun of it and it is possible that some of them cared about these women but they were undercover policemen doing a job and when the job ended or their deception was found out, the relationship had to end.

I can kind of understand. They were being paid to infiltrate groups and gain people’s confidence and they had to do that or they would lose their jobs. They probably also wanted love as much as most human beings. It might have been real to them but there was no question in their minds about what was most important to them. Their jobs meant more than their relationships. Or at least, when they had to make a choice, they only felt able to make one choice, to leave their partners behind.

Maybe the real villains are the people who decided that this was okay, that they could force their employees into these situations and made them feel like they had no choice. They could leave but getting a new job isn’t always easy and I seriously doubt they would get a reference about their undercover work. But it’s horrible and cruel. And that might not even be the cruellest thing they do.

Jackal Run was created and directed by the actors in this play with Breach Theatre. Billy Barrett and Elice Stevens are the co-writers and it’s a hard-hitting and really powerful piece of writing. The scenes come from different times over the last fifty years. It might have been confusing in a stage play but the film medium meant that the year could come up onscreen so we know where we are.

Another thing that is interesting is that they didn’t name many of the characters. The two female officers are named (one seems to play two characters but I think they might be the same person). Most of them are known by the role they play in the drama, like Chairman, Lawyer and Relative. The four men who were undercover are known as Officer 1, Officer 2, Officer 3 and Officer 4. The women are known as Activist 1, Activist 2, Activist 3 and Activist 4. The men have probably used lots of names and in a way the women aren’t just specific individuals, they’re representing lots of women who were deceived in this way.

The actors are final years students at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Felix Newman gives two contrasting performances as men in positions of power, the Chairman and Corporal Chaos. Umi Myers is an intelligent Lawyer who is passionate about her cause, yet completely in control of her emotions. Genevieve Lewis and Alyth Ross give a more human angle to the undercover element as Lucy and Sam/Sandra. Sheyi Cole has a very small role as the Relative but he plays the role brilliantly and I think his scene is the one that will stick with me the most.

Sonny Pilgrem, Jidé Okunola, Brandon Grace and Charlie Beck all seem so nice as the Officers when they first meet the women and maybe there is something genuine in the Officers’ feelings then but maybe it really is all faked. Lily Hardy, Hope Kenna, Tara Tijani and Caitlin Ffion Griffiths display very different personalities as the four women but they all have something very important in common. They are all duped. They also don’t come across as being especially stupid or naïve. Everything really does seem fine. I only had alarm bells because I knew what the play was about.

I think Jackal Run is a brilliant and important play. It tells stories which are relatable about characters who we like but it also questions something which I think really needs to be questioned.