New World Order

Ryan J-W Smith in New World Order

I sat in the dark theatre, hearing an American soldier share his story of violence, terror and injustice. How he had given the order to blow up a building then witnessed the devastation it caused an innocent family.

The reality of war hung oppressively in the air when the lights came up on a stage bare save for a man sitting on a chair, wine bottle in hand and tears in his eyes.

Few performances I’ve seen have been as gripping, touching and perceptive as New World Order. The one-man play from award-winning international playwright, actor, director and producer Ryan J-W Smith, deals with empire-building from the perspectives of three characters – The King, The Joker and The Veteran.

Political subterfuge and terror are a plague in today’s global society, and influence socio-political relationships both locally and globally. It’s daring to try and encapsulate the situation in a one-hour performance, but Smith pulls it off beautifully. The play combines details of contemporary conflicts with more general attitudes and theories to deconstruct an issue that has been relevant to civilisation throughout history.

Smith’s use of iambic, rhyming verse has previously earned him the title “The Bard Mark Two” (BBC), but while Shakespeare’s influence was clear, the theatrical conventions and the story went beyond that realm and into a brave new world. His masterful manipulation of language adds a timeless quality to the play that marks this work as a sophisticated, intelligent and emotive performance different to anything else being created today.

It’s rare to find a one-man show that’s engaging, entertaining and insightful, but by playing all three characters Smith highlights the common element between them – they’re only human. The simple staging contrasts with the complex characters and creates the perfect balance for us to think about what is being said. Having one person show us three different perspectives is a refreshing reminder of our basic human nature and the expectations that comes from our place in the status quo.

Transitions between the three characters are so smooth it’s easy to forget there is only one person on stage. Adept use of physicality and vocal nuances mark each character and compliment the depth of the text. Suspending disbelief is an almost unconscious act from start to finish.

Smith’s conviction is overwhelming and enlightening, generating critical thought on the state of things today. The use of diverse sources transform current war and terrorism discourses into something rich and strange. New World Order is an outstanding piece of theatre that opens the mind and calls for more discussion on an issue that is ages old but still starkly relevant today. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the state of our world and our humanity.

Ryan J-W Smith’s New World Order was performed at the Judith Wright Centre as part of the 2008 Brisbane Writers Festival.

A Culture of Fear

We sat in the dark performance space waiting for the audience to enter. An eerie song was playing and the only light came from four torches. Once audience member followed the light to the centre of the room before changing their mind and moving outside the light. When it was dark, we began to talk.

I walked around, taking photos of people in the dark, then handing them disturbing images which they could look at when the lights were turned on. The stockings on our heads made us uniform, and the scattered sentences unsettled a lot of people. The lights, when they came up, were only light enough to illuminate the space, not much more.

It sounds strange, and possibly a little over-dramatised in written form, but the effect on the audience was what we had hoped for. Our performance was exploring the phrase “a culture of fear” and we were both facilitating and sharing fears with the people around us. In a post-September 11, post-Bali Bombings, post-London bus scare, terrorism is fear’s word of choice. And suspicion is rife.  How do you know who is planning something? Could that person talking quietly into their phone and rapidly looking around be someone suspect enough to call the National Security Hotline?

You know there’s something wrong with society when the sound of fireworks can be mistaken for gunfire – even if only for a second. We’re more on edge than before, and in some ways I think that is a normal, reasonable reaction to recent world events. But in many ways I wonder if there is an alternative, and this performance gave me a chance to make others question their own fears.

When the fluros were turned on and our performance was over someone gave the best feedback I could have asked for.

“My heart was racing. I was scared, but I also asked myself why I was scared.”

That was what I had hoped to hear.