Rebekah Smith
A room of potential activists sit ready and willing to learn. Two flatmates stand with a mission to unpack a way ahead. An archive from one of history’s largest UK student protest waits to unlock the answers.
Lessons on Revolution is just that – an education from two students on how past failures may or may not inform future successes. It is not, as they remind us, theatre created by professional actors and is not dramatically inclined to put story over truth. Instead, we enter into a small room with peeling paint and crammed chairs. The performers (Sam Rees and Gabriele Uboldi) meekly offer out gingernut biscuits, orange squash and the opportunity to get involved if you so wish. They ask us to use our imagination and the aim is clear – we sit as co-conspirators. A symbolic student union gathering to confront social injustice on a makeshift budget in a space we make for ourselves.
The play spotlights the 1968 LSE (London School of Economics) student riots, which followed a battle between LSE Student Union Presidents Marshall Bloom and David Adelstein and the Directors of the university. At the time, multiple senior members of LSE staff were tied to the BP oil and gas company and helped maintain white minority rule in Rhodesia. What begins as students fighting to pull LSE investment in Rhodesia Apartheid and the Vietnam War, quickly turns into a simple fight for the freedom to protest. It is a story of repeated failure as they lose grip on Socialist activism, instead growing more fervent and desperate with every push back into the corner.
It is a good subject to choose amongst a myriad of revolutions. BP and the rest of ‘big oil’ still exist in the middle of our world’s social and climate crisis, embroiling themselves in education and policymaking, guided by greed. The show is painfully aware of the lack of progress made. It sits itself within the doom of the modern day left and does not cheerlead a false narrative. The characters are as desperate, uncertain and helpless as we are – knowing that change is needed but wondering whether it will come quickly enough. Urgency and honesty are placed on the table. You will not be coddled with simple answers.
Technical elements of the show from designers Laurel Marks and Rudy Percival work well to transport us through time hops and revolutions. A historic overhead projector pairs with a digital one, while a vinyl player shares duties with the traditional speakers. The lighting too is used effectively. We drift through decades and the technical design guides us through these shifts with ease, bolstering the dramatic moments of the play.
Lessons on Revolution is an extremely effective immersive experience. From the very outset we feel like students and are immediately involved in this shared activism. It is an ingenious choice from the company: giving us roles and chances to get involved with the story they tell. It is as if we have the power to do something, to be involved in the activism. Members and comrades in the fight rather than voyeuristic observers. We are allied to the cause and invested in the result. Alongside the request to use our imagination, the team offer a disclaimer that every effort has been made to check accuracy but not all things could be agreed upon by consensus. The show reminds us that we must push forward in revolution, despite our differences and despite a divided left.
Undoubtedly this show is about revolution, but it is also about how we make theatre. In a festival presenting thousands of shows, it is important to take a minute to remember what this art was created for – to have an effect on an audience and empower them to do or feel something. Our two protagonists have a humble offering but a clear end goal. Despite oversaturation of information, capitalism, division and past failures, there is a hope that a flame will be lit. Sam Rees and Gabriele Uboldi invite us to share this hope and remember that all politics are intertwined, all issues are political, and all is worth fighting for. Lessons on Revolution is an incredibly moving and potent experience that empathises with tired hearts and galvanises us with renewed strength.
Recommended Drink: Cornershop vodka and the leftover orange squash – student flat party style.
Catch Lessons on Revolutions at 20-26th August at 14:15, Former Womens Locker Room, Summerhall. Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Jake Mace
