Echoes of insubstantiality

The age-old question of "what constitutes Britishness?" has just been heaved into prominence with the introduction of citizenship classes, tests and lists of facts about this country (or collection of countries) that the responsible British citizen has a duty to know. Unfortunately, Edgar’s new play Testing the Echo, which treats on the subject, fails to conjure up hard-hitting realities or ask searching questions. The audience are not challenged by this piece of political theatre.

Testing the Echo follows students in citizenship class—a boy kidnapped for his own good and a host of other characters—as they prepare for their citizenship tests, all, for various reasons, after a British passport. Inevitably, they face questions about their own identity, as does their well-intentioned British teacher, Emma.

In terms of content, Edgar’s characters are pure stereotype: the Muslim woman who is ideologically unable to contemplate a picture of bacon; a Polish builder; and various asylum seekers. If the intention is to cause embarrassment to the white middle class theatre-going public, here represented by snotty friends at a dinner party, it is not through intense character study or tortuous decision-making. The interweaving plotlines are often confusing and, while there are some comic moments, much of the dialogue comes as a forced attempt to emulate "cool Britannia" in a way that ridicules the supposed seriousness of the questions raised.

Edgar, a prolific and well-respected playwright, has written an easily recognisable state-of-the-nation play with very little bite, punch or kick. Presumably this edge was to be provided by Out of Joint, a company well known for the high quality of their theatrical productions. But the constant moving, clapping and use of multimedia intended to have a striking effect in fact alienated the audience. Not, however, in a Brechtian sense: while the estrangement effect, often employed through the use of a variety of media is intended to startle the unthinking masses into forced judgement and self-evaluation, here the reiteration of "facts about Britain" and PowerPoint-esque projections become self-reflexively nauseating.

While the actors give a brave performance, each segueing effortlessly between characters, costumes and accents, there is a hollow feel to the whole show which teeters on the brink between thoughtful and tasteless.

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