Always exciting, always diverse (I have yet to see a play there written by a white man) and always innovative, almost everything I’ve seen recently in the category of ‘well I’ve not seen that before’ has been at the Bush. Also they have an onsite play library and excellent coffee both of which are just fucking A.
Their latest commission is a transfer of hit Edinburgh show The Believers Are But Brothers, written, performed and co-directed (with Kirsty Housley) by Javaad Alipoor. This is a super interesting piece which, like many past Bush pieces, is difficult to really describe without giving away too much about it. So in the vaguest possible terms, Believers is a show about the internet and social media; how it can be used for good fun stuff and decidedly ungood unfun stuff. It tells the surprisingly interwoven stories of a wannabe British jihadi trying to join Isis, a British teacher caught in the crossfire, literal and figurative, of the Syrian civil war and an American alt right keyboard warrior spreading his hateful credo across the world. Fun and lightness this is not; fascinating and insightful it definitely is.
Alipoor has done his research to a slightly terrifying degree and the pictures he paints of the three men - and kudos to him for acknowledging and explaining his lack of female protagonists as part of the show - are vivid, nuanced and disturbing/sad (as appropriate). He doesn’t seek to excuse anything that these three men do, but he does seek to understand it in a way that it would be hugely helpful to international politics for other people to do. He avoids making this a piece about the failings of Western foreign policy in the Middle East or the rise of Isis or Brexit or Trump, though all of these are certainly touched on. He does have a lot to say about the wonders and dangers of the internet and social media though and the explanation and analysis here is razor sharp. And very frightening. My phone will be staying in my pocket a bit more over the next few days I think.
By and large though Believers is not an issue piece, it’s a people piece and all the better for it. It’s never better than the lengthy segments where it’s just Alipoor at a microphone - beautifully lit by Ben Pacey - telling the stories of his three protagonists in a beautiful act of old fashioned oral storytelling. His writing in these segments is particularly strong: punchy and emotional and complicated and rich. His stage presence and charisma is thrilling. I would probably have loved the show even more if it had just been 100% this.
The staging of Believers is great too, with an effective and not overdone use of video and a great but simple set that evokes the sort of computer dominated geek-holes that his protagonists inhabit. It also normalises them in a really clever way - we’ve all seen someone with the sort of computer dominated bedroom that this set represents. One thing I wasn’t overly sold on though is the production’s use of an audience WhatsApp group. Again, I won’t go into too much detail here for fear of spoilers but for me it was very rarely something that added to the show and very often something that distracted from it. Perhaps I’m just too old fashioned to ever get with the idea of phones in the theatre being ok - and you’re told to leave your notification sounds on too! - but the constant ping of everyone’s show-related notifications, non-show-related notifications, assorted BBC News Alerts and amazing Bruce Springsteen ringtones* was just a bit annoying. It is used effectively a couple of times, but overall I didn’t feel the show would have lost anything if it wasn’t there. I applaud the attempt at innovation though and it’s exciting to see the Bush yet again toying with the idea of what a theatre audience is and can be.
I really enjoyed, though perhaps enjoyed is the wrong word, The Believers Are But Brothers. It’s such an interesting, thoughtful and thought provoking piece and it’s difficult not to get excited about watching someone with Javaad Alipoor’s vision and creativity. The Bush’s commissioning is as brave and bold as ever with this piece. I look forward to many more visits this year.
The Believers Are But Brothers is at the Bush until 10th February.
*Yep, that was mine. And I have never felt more guilty in a theatre.
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