Theatre review: Future Tales (Sierakowski), Summerhall (Venue 26), Edinburgh
Future Tales (Sierakowski)
Summerhall (Venue 26)
Star rating: * * * *
Like Tommy Sheridan, Slawomir Sierakowski – the subject of their show – is a real person, born in 1979, a leader of left-wing opinion in contemporary Warsaw. Unlike Tommy, though, he is a writer, academic, and expert in neo-Marxist theory, who refuses to involve himself in conventional electoral politics.
So komuna//warszawa – in the shape of three singer-performers, and two musicians sitting at keyboards, while also playing guitar and violin – spend a noisy, thoughtful, visionary hour imagining possible futures for Sierakowski, into the middle of our 21st century and beyond. In one version of the future, he becomes a Buddhist, gives up public life, and lives to a ripe old age. In another, he is elected President of the Republic; in a third, he is killed by aliens in a strange invasion of the planet.
Advertisement
Hide AdThere are four songs, mostly loud and quite angry; there is powerful use of film and graphics; and there is a constant, satirical sense that the kind of socialism advocated by Sierakowski is at best insincere and self-indulgent, and at worst a fast track back to some form of totalitarianism.
Yet as in I, Tommy, there is also a yearning for the kind of alternative that Sierakowski might provide; in a world where politics is less absurd, less ego-driven and more truly capable of representing the people.
• Until 26 August. Today 8:45pm.