The Reckoning at the Arcola Theatre Review
Written by Jasmine for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
“Why don’t you start with when the war began for you?” - that is the phrase that echoes through the play, the start of the interviews which we move between with the journalist at the centre of the story. This phrase reflects the entire approach of The Reckoning, which finds so much of its impact in the way that the war in Ukraine interrupted the normal lives of Ukrainians with a wave of violence too surreal to fully process. The most harrowing details of this show sit alongside the most day to day ones, and that is what makes it so powerful.
There is not a moment that you are not gripped by these stories. Anastasiia Kosodii and Josephine Burton have done an incredible job of putting the stories from The Reckoning Project’s archive together in a way which not only represents those people and their stories with real impact and reverence, but which isn’t afraid to examine the complexities of gathering these testimonies, how it can impact both the interviewer and interviewee for better or worse. What really stuck with me after the play, and the wonderful ‘Food for Thought’ talk afterwards was the same thing that affects the journalist at the centre - you can’t hear these stories without them taking root in you, you can’t flatten them into one big crisis that fades into the background; hearing these stories makes you responsible for them. That’s what makes this play so important - we become responsible for making sure these stories are not forgotten, too, for ensuring that there can be a reckoning.
Marianne Oldham is incredible as the journalist; she sets the tone of the interviews and portrays the overwhelming weight of receiving these stories, many of which are translated from the Ukrainian words of the testimonies. She balances the urgency and professionalism of her interviews with the retrospection and depth of emotion behind her own experience of the war beautifully, and her conversation with The Man From Stoyanka creates an unforgettable spine for the show. Tom Godwin’s performance as The Man From Stoyanka was a perfect match for Oldham’s Journalist - the quiet steadiness with which he lives his life on the land he will not leave, and the way he brings the same understated yet devastating approach to telling his story truly brings The Man From Stoyanka to life. You feel you know him, that he is someone you’ve met, that you can place in your own hometown or that you could meet at the shop tomorrow.
In his story and throughout the show, it is the everyday human moments that stand out amongst all the horror. It is the fact that you can hear his dogs barking outside, and imagine the garden where he goes to feed them, it’s the way he prepares his food as he talks, and how the room is full of beautiful little details like the jar of berries the journalist smells at one point as she comes in. Being given a salad like the one he has been preparing at the end, and being able to smell the food as he makes it, builds on the sense of intimacy created by finding ourselves in his home. The set, by Zoe Hurwitz, communicates the balance of home and disaster so brilliantly, as in amongst all the normal homey things is a huge hole blasted in the wall, huge and central, but never discussed, as if it has become a normal part of the house.
This is part of the tenderness that finds its way into this play, the real love of people and humanity and the sense that never dims. A really important part of that is the incredible multi-rolling actors who speak directly to us throughout the play - Olga Safranova and Simeon Kylsyi play our contacts essentially with this world and these stories, as well as many of the interviewees. They are brilliant performers, and their more relaxed conversations bring us into the world more, and create moments of relief when needed from the main interviews - they create a warm space to hear difficult things in, and provide a different, more informal way to tell the stories of the war between themselves.
Everything in this production works beautifully together; we seem to flow seamlessly between stories, moving between music and soundscape, between movement moments and naturalistic performance, without it ever feeling jarring. It brings us into this world and reminds us of the importance of individual stories, of the details, and of not allowing ourselves to become desensitised to the impact war has on the people caught up in it.
This show stays with you long after you leave the theatre and will remind you why we must do everything we can to amplify these stories - doubtless like me, you will learn something, and doubtless you, like me, will want to tell everyone you know to watch this play.
The Reckoning plays at Arcola Theatre until 28 June
★★★★★
