(Imperialist) Signs of the Times

Sheffield Theatres and director Samuel West are staging a new production of the controversial 1980 play “The Romans In Britain”. The play, written by Howard Brenton takes an unflinching look at imperialism and the abuse of power in Britain by visiting three key periods in British history; the invasion of Britain by Ceasar, the Anglo-Saxon invasions which birthed the King Arthur mythos, and the British occupation of Ireland in our current era.

Poster from the new production.

The original production became infamous after the director Michael Bogdanov was thrown in prison and put on trial thanks to an outraged crusader for decency Mary Whitehouse.

“What caused the original row was a scene in which a young Druid priest is buggered by a Roman centurion in 54 BC. But Mrs Whitehouse’s prurient preoccupation with simulated sodomy obscured the real point that Brenton was seeking to make: that the Roman occupation of Britain, with its brute force and contempt for the values of the colonised, was exactly mirrored by the British attitude to Ireland down the centuries.” – Michael Billington, The Guardian

The playwright Howard Brenton today says that the Druid-rape scene is no longer all that shocking and “reads like an account of an all-too-common war crime.”

Thanks to that simulated sodomy scene and resulting controversy the play hadn’t been put on since. But now that issues of imperialism, democracy, and war are hot-button topics in the West the play seemed ripe for new life.

“But the remarkable thing about the piece is that, far from being dated, it remains as relevant now as it ever was, astonishing in the way that it holds a mirror to today?s international situation.” – John Highfield, The Stage

Scene from original production.

“But you don’t need visual updates to see this play is timely all over again, with reverberations ranging from today’s callous “happy slapping” to the latest covert videos of army initiation rites and Abu Ghraib. There’s an apocalyptic feel that also taps into current fears as the desecrated druid preaches vengeance and predicts “cataracts of terror”.” – Kate Bassett, The Independent

“Our aim is not to court controversy but to give a deserved revival to an important 20th century British work whose themes are strongly resonant today. The Romans In Britain shows us the British people both as invaders and invaded, depicting the sometimes brutal consequences of these dual roles with rare humanity, wit and sensitivity. We feel that it is a play for our times and that it should be seen.” – Samuel West, director of the new production, The Daily Telegraph

No doubt the new production will do well considering the strong anti-war stance of the British people. The play should be a potent provoker of thought considering not only the Iraq situation (and recent British troops abuse scandal there), but the issues of spreading democracy in the Middle East, and the current cartoon controversy. Who are the Western powers in this struggle? Invaders? Liberators? Perhaps some murky mixture of both? No matter your opinion, it is good that artists are rising to the occasion of being the conscience of nations.

Tags: Neopaganism