Samson Airline. Presented by Free Theatre. Directed by Peter Falkenberg. At the South Quad, 21-23 November, at 9.11pm. Reviewed by Alan Scott.
Samson Airline as a concept and as a production was innovative and interesting but, in the end, somewhat flawed. The idea of theatre-goers as passengers on a flight to oblivion had huge potential. The set, the inside of a plane, complete with a view through the cockpit window of a simulated flight, was superbly done and the end of the flight, the crash of the plane, was exciting theatre.
The notion, too, of the in-flight entertainment featuring the story of Samson as a means of understanding issues in the Palestinian conflict was very well conceived. The problem was that the script itself did not match up to the weight of the idea it was supposed to convey, and in practical theatre terms, the brilliance of the last 10 minutes could not compensate for many tedious pass- ages in the previous 60.
Kate Hamilton and Marian Mccurdy, as the stewardesses, with fake smiles and exaggerated move- ments, did a marvellous job. They were intense, focused, and exact and their honeyed unctuousness made for good satire.
It all became, however, too pains- taking and by the end of the play the joke had worn very thin. Indeed, the whole production was spoiled by a desire to spell everything out in slow and ponderous manner. It ended up as art for art's sake and the political message was lost.