On a train across Hungary Virag (Francesca Hess) and Jake (Benjamin Osugo) sit and bicker. Two years married and on their way to see Virag's parents. Nervous to see if, this time, they'll accept their daughter's choice. A black man from Scotland.
Enter a stranger. Bela (Sam Stopford) is stranger than most, and probing their defences, engaging in the fake reality they construct for him, and bringing forth a strange proposal. What is he really after? Why is he so dismissive of Jake, and so ready to split the couple apart?
As the dialogue starts and stutters along, as the triangle keeps altering shape, we see the realities of how misogyny and racism are normalised in Orban's far right Hungary. And that sometimes Glasgow isn't as different as we like to think, a society that still commoditises women and makes black men live up to their own stereotypes.
In a world of make believe and unfinished sentences the truth is in there, a strong reminder of how easily the far right use othering to spread division and hatred, on the path of the dissolving of human rights and civil liberties. Exactly what Braverman and co are doing with migrants right now.
A clever script with a depth that would make a second visit rewarding, and strong performances, notably from Stopford as the unsettling, creepy Bela. Fascinating.
No comments:
Post a Comment