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Henry Hitchings's rating
Katrina is powerful yet lacks a real sense of urgency
By
Henry Hitchings
7 Sep 2009
Entering Katrina at The Bargehouse on Oxo Tower Wharf, one expects to be plunged into the hurricane that strafed the Louisiana coast at the end of August 2005 — and into the ensuing chaos that cost the lives of hundreds of the citizens of New Orleans.
But this is not what happens. Although Jonathan Holmes’s production uses sound to complicate the audience’s perceptions, Katrina is not a viscerally immersive experience. Rather, it reflects on the aftermath of the storm, offering a critique of the political inertia that exacerbated the catastrophe.
The central figure, Beatrice, is trying to transport the body of her dead partner Virgil to City Hall. Along the way she meets fellow survivors of the carnage, and we hear their testimony.
First, we shuffle through a tourist office bedecked with PR material promoting New Orleans. Then we ascend to a bar. As jovial musicians encourage us to loosen up, the storm’s ominous noise judders through the building.
The next “storey” of this four-tier event is surprisingly static. Katrina may be labelled a promenade production, but it is not exactly walkabout theatre. For the central section the audience sits austerely while the grimly specific eyewitness accounts are unfurled.
We hear about a prisoner breaking out of his cell using a mop-wringer, police officers looting supermarkets, and babies floating in the water at the Louisiana Superdome. There are moments of pungent awfulness, plus the odd dash of humour, but the staging is not dynamic enough and the tenor of the testimonies too obviously didactic.
At length we move to a space at the top of the building, where Virgil is buried, his coffin borne by white-suited mourners. The mood, initially sombre, erupts into a blaze of euphoria that leaves the audience convivially dazed.
Even if the shape of the production feels somewhat misjudged, Jonathan Holmes’s theatrical sensibility is undeniably powerful. The performances are assured, and Lucy Wilkinson’s design lovingly conceived.
Still, something is missing at the heart of Katrina. It’s a stylish and morally emphatic document that nonetheless lacks a real sense of urgency.
Until 26 September. Information: 020 7922 2922.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (3)
I was not so convinced. I thought it was a very disjointed production. The main part of it, consisting of the testimonies, felt like a lecture. There are some clever touches, but the production has put concept before making a coherent statement.
When Henry Hitchings says it's lacking urgency, I think this is a polite way of saying it is quite boring. When I saw it I got the impression that a fair section of the audience thought the testimonies dragged. The content was predictable. Anyone who saw the news footage at the time of Hurricane Katrina would have been familiar with the kind of events that the play brings up. To me it did not seem fresh or especially powerful.
- Chris Duckett, London, 09/09/2009 10:21
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I agree with Lorna H.
I got a real sense of people stranded and forced to wait in misery for help that should have come, but didn't. Help which in fact in some cases was replaced by police bullying and outright preying on powerless people.
The play rammed home that these were people who needed food, water and shelter, just like us. And they were deprived of it by nature, just as I could be. The authorities who were sworn to look after them at a time like this, failed them and made things worse. The final scene left me with a feeling that these were/are people, like you and me, and when the flood waters receded they tried to get on with their lives with dignity and hope.
It's a great piece of immersive theatre. Go see it.
- Anon, London, 09/09/2009 09:19
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I think the reviewer has slightly missed one of the points of the play - there simply was no urgency on the part of the US government to help the people trapped in New Orleans after the hurricane. The testimonies of the 6 excellent actors drives this home - how can the US get aid to Sri Lanka within two days and they can't help their own citizens get food and water within five??? I didn't feel that the play should have had a sense of urgency, as it is all about the frustration of waiting to be helped and the despair and disbelief at being left in such an appalling situation for so long. I felt that it worked incredibly well. I agree that the set design is fantastic, particularly given the scale of the five storeys, but felt that it was good to be able to sit down for a while during the main delivery of each actor's account so that you don't have to wander round for the whole time. Full credit to the small cast, who all gave incredibly powerful performances - which ranged from moving to outraged, matter of fact to humourous.
This is definitely a theatrical experience not to be missed!
- Lorna H, London, 07/09/2009 21:35
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