Inherit the wind

On Wednesday night this week, my Mum and I went to see Kevin Spacey in Inherit The Wind. It was one of the best productions and plays I have seen in a long time.

I've not been very well for the last couple of weeks, feeling very anxious, stressed and generally not good. As I have mentioned before on this blog, I have ongoing "mental health issues" over the last 12 years. Sometimes I feel good sometimes I don't. Anyway when I'm not feeling good theatres can really stress me out, it's the very small spaces and crowds as you are getting into the theatre that really freak me out and I have had some trips to the theatre ruined or abandoned in the past when the crowds are just too much. We got to the theatre early to avoid the worst of the crowds which was a good idea.

The other problem I have when I am not feeling good is my concentration span is totally rubbish! At the moment I am finding it hard to concentrate on watching TV, reading etc. so I was really worried I'd fidget and twitch my way through the play, not paying attention, even if the play was good.

The play and performances were more than good. They were fabulous. I was rapt. I needn't have worried. Kevin Spacey and David Troughton (son of Patric Troughton - Dr Who trivia of the day) had such stage presence playing their larger than life characters beautifully. The whole ensemble cast were amazing, the direction excellent, it struck me as rather cinematic in the way Trevor Nunn directed it but not in a bad way.

The play tackles the issue of religious extremism, 1920s deep south style, and it is timely that it is being shown in Dawin's anniversary year. (The play tackles the true court case where Bertram Cotes a high school teacher, was tried for teaching evolution when it was banned from schools in Tennessee, for being un-Biblical.) I went away from the play thinking that the greater message was about modernity and where we are heading, the speed of change. Some of the deep south religious extremists are cruel, bigoted and stiff necked. (If I remember rightly the Old Testament God isn't too keen on stiff necked people.) One of the characters representing modern America is also cruel, cynical and inflexible in his beliefs. The play is a warning of extremism of any kind, religious or otherwise. To think, to reason, to doubt, to reason some more and try to understand is what makes us human.