The Stage

Light Shining in Buckinghamshire

Published Tuesday 20 July 2010 at 18:23 by Natasha Tripney

For the Arcola’s revival of Caryl Churchill’s stirring play, a ditch in the form of a cross of earth dominates the room, an apt symbol in more ways than one as land and its ownership are central in this hymn to British radicalism.

Although Churchill’s play focuses on the Putney Debates of 1647, it has a much longer reach and the social ideals discussed feel just as potent today. Churchill contextualises the debates by depicting the harsh life of the poor, babies dying for want of food, women stripped and lashed for vagrancy. The play concludes with a second debate, this time set in an alehouse where the hungry and disposed congregate, claiming to glimpse God in even the darkest corners of their world.

The language is typically rich and Polly Findlay’s direction is extremely evocative - occasional shifts to modern dress highlight the universality of the themes without being too heavy-handed about it. The rapid switching between characters means the piece can be hard to follow, but there’s some strong ensemble acting at work and the production rewards the audience’s efforts. It’s full of striking sequences, from Kobna Holdbrook Smith in a gleaming black butcher’s apron refusing meat to the wealthy and well-fed, to the uplift of the final scene, the sense of connection forged round a table littered with beer bottles.