Fire & Petrol at the Royal Exchange

 

ON entering the Manchester Royal Exchange yesterday, for the first time ever my plastic M&S shopping bag was perused for explosives.  I've been going to the Royal Exchange since it opened in the 1970s with 'The Prince of Homburg' by Heinrich von Kleist, and I've never experienced a bag search before.  The performance was to be 'Parliament Square' written by James Fritz and directed by Jude Christian.

If we'd been visiting some show be it film or theatre, that had been put on by the politically-correct softies on the British left we might have been cautioned and pre-armed with trigger warnings before the kick-off.  Perhaps the Manchester bourgeoisie are bolder and made of sterner stuff than the local loco-lefties?

The blurb on the Box Office publicity flier says:  'How far would you go for what you believe in?'

Given that the Manchester Arena bombing only occurred on 22 May 2017, it may have been considered a bit risque to put this play on.  Although, the main character Kat is more in the style of a Buddhist Monk self-harming by dousing herself in petrol than Islamic extremist.

Raw, disturbing and compassionate, James Fritz’s searingly powerful play forces a confrontation with some of the most urgent questions we face.  What can one individual do to effect change?  And where do we choose to draw the line between absolute commitment and dangerous obsession? 

It's not that we come up here against the Kantian idea of a moral law* - The Categorical Imperative.  It's more about what we can we do to have impact on events and still stay sane?

*  The Kantian idea of a moral law:

‘For an action to be morally valid, you must only carry out that action if you believe all people should act in the same way.  If society acted exactly as you do, would this be morally acceptable?’