Because You are Mine
by Daniel Keene
Melbourne University
Student Theatre until October 1996
Reviewed by Kate
Herbert around Sept 20, 1996
Invariably, before a war, there is a period of time during
which there is the possibility, the hope that there will be no war.
Before the
horror and despair there is uncertainty, an atmosphere of unrest, political
upheaval, military activity, societal confusion and a hint of impending
inhumanity. People cannot comprehend the fact that they could become the ones
to suffer. Catastrophe happens to others.
In Because You are
Mine, people whisper incredulously, "They say there is going to be
a war." The extraordinary happens to these ordinary people: war. It is
their pain which makes them exceptional.
Daniel Keene's play is an episodic representation of the
Bosnian experience. It takes fragments of lives, snatches of conversations,
voyeuristic glimpses through windows or into dark corners and secret places.
Intercutting these with the monologues of the dead, the raped, the abused, he
weaves these formerly disconnected lives into a bloody tapestry. We witness the
war opportunists, the rapists and the raped, the physically unscathed and the
permanently scarred as they creep helplessly and in ignorance across the
landscape.
Kim Hanna has directed this student production with
simplicity and compassion. He allows the emotion, the truth and power of the
text to speak for themselves. Kathryn Sproul's design with huge sliding,
crashing steel doors, provides an icily sterile environment for the atrocities.
At times, the emotional complexity is beyond some of these
young actors but their level of commitment and compassion speaks volumes. There
are several good performances but it is the actor playing the street-dwelling
woman (name unknown), who brings an exceptional clarity of vision and delivery
to her role. Her presence is magnetic. Hers is a lovely, idiosyncratic, warm
and detailed performance which makes the poetic images of Keene's language live
for us.
One character, trying to understand this senseless war,
variously cites economics, politics, religion and history as the causes.
Perhaps it is far simpler: power and hate rule.
KATE HERBERT
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