I really enjoyed Freedom. It had a great blend of comedy and drama, built around three really interesting characters. I liked the way the story was set in both Tajikistan (a place I know nothing about) and the UK, and the scenes flipped between the two locations.
Because the Arcola is a small theatre, you sit really close to the actors, so they're able to act in a much more convincing way than you normally see in theatre. Their performances were really intimate and believable and all three of them were excellent. It's an ensemble piece so there's no main character, and the three of them worked really well together and formed relationships as the play progressed. The main actress was beautiful too, which I know shouldn't really be relevant, but did make her really watchable!
I would definitely recommend this play to my friends, I think it raises some interesting questions about what it means to be free, and also about taking responsibility for ones actions, while at the same time just being really entertaining.
Freedom is a tense and powerful drama, punctuated by dark humour and tragic romance, which will be performed at the Arcola Theatre, from Wednesday 25th January to Saturday 18th February 2012 at 8pm in studio 2. Saturday Mats on the 11th and 18th at 3pm..
This is a story divided between Tajikistan and England, told in split screen, following three characters forced to choose between their own freedom and each others: there’s Benham, an opium farmer, desperately trying to prove a lie he told to his gangster masters; his son, Fariad, who reluctantly travels to England as part of his father’s scheme, only to find that he likes the western way of life; and Jennifer, a damaged girl who falls for Fariad’s unorthodox charms.