Which is more important, our principles or our personal relationships? Does it matter if those to whom we are closest don’t share our views? And if what we do has no immediate bearing on a wider issue, does it matter whether we do it or not?
These are some of the issues raised in Ariana vs Chomsky, a tightly packed, sharply written and well acted short play by PJV Studio.
Chloe and Mark are partners. They live in London, where like most people under the age of 90 and lacking a trust fund, they can’t afford to buy a house or even a car. They’re muddling through though. The play opens with them dancing joyously; they’re happy in each other’s company; they’ve still got the moves.
The stage is set with just two chairs throughout, the scene alternating between Chloe and Mark’s home and what I think is meant to be a TV studio or lecture theatre, where the philosopher and academic Noam Chomsky is being grilled by a nameless interviewer. The change in venue is well signalled by the actors standing to face the audience at the start of each interview scene. Claire Gilman plays both Chloe and Chomsky, PJ Vickers Mark and the interviewer.
As the interviewer Vickers is aggressive, challenging, determined to manoeuvre Chomsky into a corner. Gilman’s Chomsky is calm, ignoring the interviewer’s interruptions and attempts to tie him in knots. Instead he reiterates his views on war, US foreign policy, imperialism,
colonialism, Vietnam, the liberation of France at the end of World War Two, and a whole range of related subjects.
I have to admit that I was slightly confused by the Chomsky scenes. At the end of the first one, ‘Chomsky’ and his interviewer start laughing, and revert to being Chloe and Mark. Is this a game the couple enjoys playing, or are the characters meant to exist in their own right? To a large extent, though, it doesn’t matter; the Chomsky scenes are there to illustrate different views on important topics. In the Mark and Chloe scenes these views are tested in real life.
Mark is from Manchester, so when he’s offered a job there he’s delighted, and assumes Chloe will be too. Not only will he earn more
money, it’ll go further and they will at last be able to buy a flat and a car. Chloe is happy enough with the plan. Mark goes on a reccy up north; his return already sounds faint alarm bells – he’s had time to see a Stones Roses concert, but not to visit his parents. Of course he’s not alone in doing something like that, but we are already wondering how often pleasure (his) is going to take priority over duty. And it gets worse – the best part of the trip for him was driving to the United ground with his old friends, music blaring out of their car,
‘I was like a real man at last’
Is this supposed to be real or ironic? You can’t help but feel it’s probably a bit of both.
Mark’s also not managed to vote in the Labour leadership election. When Chloe asks him to try again, he says there’s no point, the
result is a foregone conclusion.
But they’re still happy. Chloe easily finds a new academic post, and soon they’ve moved.
Domestic and interview scenes continue to alternate, the latter now moving on to the trustworthiness, or lack of it, of the media’s portrayal of the news. Chomsky famously considers the media to be controlled by corporate power; he sees it as a vehicle of propaganda used by the powerful for their own ends.
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On 22 May 2017 an Islamic extremist explodes a bomb at an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena. 22 people die. Mark and Chloe read the breaking news on his phone.
On 4 June 2017 Ariana Grande hosts a benefit concert One Love Manchester for the victims and their families. It raises £17 million.
Mark buys tickets for the concert. Chloe refuses to go. She says she can’t attend a concert for the bombing victims unless a similar concert is held for the hundreds of thousands of people killed by Western aggression in the Middle East. A Middle Eastern country, she says, has never attacked the UK. Propaganda has persuaded us that we are the only victims, but it is we who have caused the problems in the first place.
Mark is angry, and determined to make Chloe attend. He says the concert is all about giving people a voice,
‘THAT’S YOUR THING!’
But he also admits that one of his main reasons for attending is to have a good time and find out if the Gallagher brothers are going to reunite. Is this reprehensible or just realistic?
‘I’ve done my activism. I don’t want to make it the centre of my life any more.’
Mark’s view is that activism changes nothing. How many of us marched for causes as students? How many of us would do that now?
In Mark, Vickers creates a nuanced character; some audiences have loathed him, but to me both characters seem very human, with a right to their views. Mark has indeed become increasingly laddish since returning to his home city, but Chloe’s insistence on taking the moral high ground makes him feel patronised; his inexcusable refusal to stick up for her when his friend Darren mocks her views leaves her feeling isolated and ‘the sport of the evening, while her insistence that she must tell Darren’s girlfriend that he’s playing away from home
infuriates him – he thinks it’s none of their business. Do we have a duty to intervene, in an individual’s life or in the life of a country? Or should we keep our noses out of it?
When Chloe disagrees with him, Mark’s knee-jerk reaction is to argue, almost bully, her into submission. He’s also quite good at the traditional Male Sulk. Chloe, like Chomsky, more often remains calm but sticks to her position. Yet both actors clearly convey their care for one another. Chloe’s sad, wistful expressions, Mark’s apologies, show us they’re trying to make their relationship work – but it’s dying, and we feel for them.
Ariana vs Chomsky is a brave and provocative piece of writing, and one that stays with you long after you leave the theatre. If you don’t (as I didn’t) know much about Chomsky, it might be worth a quick look at Wikipedia before you go; the characters do explain his ideas, but the speed at which they do so is breathtaking. This, however, is no bad thing; Ariana vs Chomsky isn’t boring, it never presents as an information dump or a history lesson. Is the personal always political? It’s a question we should all, perhaps, be asking ourselves every day.
Ariana vs Chomsky is at Venue 53, theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall (Theatre 3) at 14.10 until 17th August. Tickets here.
