Reviewed by Spencer Nadeau
Revolution, war, political upheaval, and social change are rife with uncertainty. Stories and narratives during these times can be challenging to interpret and understand as cacophonies of voices saturate the social-political air of particular times and places. Today’s review tackles one instance of revolution-bred fiction in the form of Caryl Churchill’s 1990 play Mad Forest: A Play from Romania. Churchill, the prolific English playwright, composed Mad Forest immediately after the 1989 Romanian Revolution, and it was first performed on the stage in 1991. Churchill had already received wide acclaim in the world of English theatre, and Mad Forest came about midway through her playwrighting career which started in the late 1950s and has continued to the present with her most recent work What If If Only which premiered in 2021. Thematically, Churchill has explored a breadth of topics including human sexuality, gender, war, politics, and social change. Stylistically, her plays are deemed postmodern, with surrealistic, fragmented narratives.
I start off by saying that if you are unfamiliar with the 1989 Romanian Revolution I recommend doing a brief search about the events that took place between December 21 and December 25, 1989, in Romania. The Soviet Union was nearing its end, and the Eastern Bloc was collapsing. The events of these days in Romania followed the overthrow of the Communist party and the execution of long-time Romanian Communist Party General Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena, which marked the end of 42 years of Communist rule in Romania.
Mad Forest is a three-act play and follows a chronological order. The first act is set prior to the revolution, the second during, and the third after the revolution has concluded. The first and third acts follow two loosely connected Romanian families that are each looking forward to a wedding. The second act is based on interviews that Churchill and the play’s original director, Mark Wing-Davey, conducted in the aftermath of the revolution, and it depicts the chaos through multiple viewpoints.
Act one follows the Vladu family a couple of months prior to the revolution. Bogdan, the father, works as an electrician, his wife, Irina, as a tram driver. Their grown-up children are also employed: Lucia as a schoolteacher, Florina as a nurse, and Gabriel as an engineer. The family struggle through the uncertainty of communist rule and live in fear of the ever-present Securitate, Romania’s secret police. The family are most concerned for Lucia, who is hoping to get married to an American named Wayne, whom she has recently fallen in love with.
Act two contains numerous monologues from students, doctors, soldiers, labourers, and ordinary individuals in the wake of the outbreak of violence in those critical days from December 21 through December 25. Churchill’s strength in playwrighting shines in this act as the reader (or theatre viewer) feels the inherent disorientation that the lone voices of war and revolution speak. I frequently caught myself attempting to piece together the stories of multiple students in the heat of sporadic gunfire while a doctor and a nurse take stock of quickly depleting medical supplies. There is pride in the voices of revolutionary students overthrowing the wretched communist overlords, while a poor peasant family attempts to make it safely to the market to buy bread or whatever else they can find to eat.
The concluding act of Mad Forest skips to a few weeks after the revolution and follows the Antonescu family, who are friends of the Vladu family from Act one. Father Mihai and mother Flavia have a son, Radu, who is a fierce believer in the revolution and the execution of Nicolae Ceaușescu and is also in love with Florina Vladu. This third act follows their marriage story and shows how the sudden social change is rife with difficulties including its effect on families and friends. Each family member has differing views on the extinguishing of communist rule, especially with regards to the uncertainty surrounding the newly formed National Salvation Front under the authority of Ion Iliescu. They are also concerned about Hungarian immigration to Romania. This final point receives particular focus as a minor character, Ianos, is Hungarian and is in love with Lucia (now estranged from her American husband). Interspersed throughout the play are moments of surrealism with an archangel talking politics with a priest, and a stray dog talking with a wandering vampire.
Mad Forest is a brief play that does a particularly good job of providing social commentary on the social debilitation caused by war and revolution. Jennie Webb of Backstage magazine stated, “Revolution is never black and white, and Churchill wisely dwells in uncertainty and targets the surreal nature of social and political shifts in a world where the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Webb succinctly conveys the power of Churchill’s Mad Forest, and I recommend it to all who wish to enjoy a politically poignant piece of theatre.
If you would like to read Mad Forest, contact the library.
Lennoxville Library News
Canada Reads…and so does Lennoxville!
Wednesday February 28th at 7pm
at Hope Community Church and on Youtube livestream.
The 21st annual edition of our beloved literary event Canada Reads and so does Lennoxville is here!
All are invited for an evening of literary fun featuring local presenters, lively discussion and door prizes (including signed copies of the 5 finalist books). Hors d’oeuvres and sweet treats will be served.
Admission is free.
Visit our website for more information:
GOOD READS : Book Reviews from the Eastern Townships 