Scene: a forbidding committee room arranged in the style of a courtroom. A stern official – seated – is firing questions at a British actor/playwright – who is standing in front of him.
‘It has come to our attention that an audience member at a performance of your play The Error – ‘
‘Mistake, your honour.’
‘Pardon me?’
‘The play is called The Mistake.’
‘Don’t interrupt again. An audience member at a performance of your play deemed it to be un-American.
I must therefore ask, are you now or have you ever been a playwright who depicts the sufferings of innocent victims of war? More specifically, a playwright who writes about the victims of American atomic bombs? A playwright opposed to war in all its forms and to the military-industrial complex?’
‘Yes. I am. And I stand by everything I’ve written. But it has never been my intention to create a work that was un-American. I have tried to portray all sides of the debate, of the conflict. Fairly. To give every character the opportunity to vigorously make their case.’
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Again. Back to my first full day in New York City – Monday April 21st – before we’ve even entered the theatre which will be our home for the next three weeks.
I find myself singing as I walk the streets downtown with our director Rosamunde Hutt, who flew in the day before.
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Michael Mears 