Context Theatre

Back and Forth:
by Ödön von Horváth, translated from the German by Zoe Svendsen.

In association with Escape Artists for The Edge Festival and Junction CDC: Theatreplan supported company 2002/03.

Company:
Cast:
Paul Malcolm (Havlicek)
Dean Michael Julian (Szamek)
Peter Warrick (Mrshitzka)
Kelda Holmes (Leda, Y)
Alex Barclay (Konstantin)
Kasia Zaremba- Byrne (Eva)
Nicolette Kay (Mrs Hanusch)
David Humeau (Smugglitschinski, X)

Production:
Zoe Svendsen (Director, Translator)
Claire Pamment (Dramaturg, Education)
Nick Hayman Joyce (Production Manager)
Lucille Acevedo Jones (Designer)
Suzanne Ahmet (Production assistant)
Mark Light (Composer)
Leo Mellor (Additional song lyrics)
Tom Steer (Technical Manager)
James Booth (Publicity design)

Back and Forth toured various venues in Cambridgeshire (as part of the Cambridge Edge Festival) and London (Chats Palace) October- November 2002.

Back and Forth used a new translation of Ödon von Horváth’s farcical Hin und Her, with a satirical edge on immigration systems. The piece reached approximately 2000 people as part of The Edge Festival, touring schools, colleges, arts centres and Oakington Immigration, creating discussion with audiences through the piece, exhibitions, debates and forum theatre workshops about immigration issues today. A number of pre-production workshops with asylum seekers and sixth form students also supported the piece.

What happens if you end up stuck on a bridge over the river border between two unidentified countries, unable to enter either because of a loophole in the law? Horváth's play is a comedy of thwarted love and mistaken identity, involving everyone from local drug smugglers to heads of state, with a dark satirical edge which sharply calls into question simplistic attitudes to immigration. Playing in both public theatres and Oakington Immigration Reception Centre, Context’s adaptation creates a multi-media and multi-lingual theatrical experience, generating debate to dissolve boundaries and dispel myths.

A panel discussion followed the performance at the Cambridge Drama Centre, chaired by Claire Pamment, and offering the audience to put their questions to experts on the issues.

Panel: Teri Whitaker, Independent film maker, Bedford;
Mike Lewis, Cambridge Against Refugee Detention;
Ruth Bagnall, Labour Councillor, Cambridge; and
Fateiha Yazdi, Refugee Council Ipswich

'I admire the way you've built links between the play and a contemporary
predicament… a distinctive launch project for your company' - Steve Waters, playwright.

'Well it’s the truth, isn’t it? Of our position?'
Stanford, asylum seeker detained at Oakington Immigration reception Centre, in response to workshop for Back and Forth, prior to production.

Performing at Oakington

Just two weeks before our intended performance at Oakington Immigration Reception Centre we received a call from the centre manager telling us that the law had changed and that the centre was to be emptied. The relationship with the farce posed in the play was ironic. The detainees- from all corners of the globe- were to be shifted to other detention centres and Oakington was to accept immigrants only from the Eastern European countries due to join the EU in 2005. The shift in culture, language and situation of our audience was drastic. These people weren't given the opportunity to stay in the UK while their claim had been tried and tested - if there was doubt over their asylum claim they would be sent back to the country while their papers were investigated.

The audience were mainly Romanies from Poland, many with young children. As the audience filed in there was suspicion over who we were, why we were there- were we attached to the Home Office?!

Group Four (who run the Centre) staff made their banter amongst colleagues as our cast showed audience members to their seats. I stood and chatted to the staff briefly, and encouraged them to sit, wanting them to be part of the audience but they wouldn't sit with the detainees - 'We have to stay here in case they try to escape!' All said in banter but a direct reference to the Yarls' Wood Riot of the previous year.

I introduced the company and the piece to the audience- careful to rid any Home Office affiliation- and watched the play via the responses of the audience. If an entrance came from the back of the audience there would be a look of delight- a cry for magic- just as we had seen in the faces of some of our school's audiences. There were chuckles- and we held our audience despite language barriers. When it came to the end I stood up and thanked the audience and explained that we were going to do forum- attempting to finding a solution to Havlicek's predicament, collectively- the detainees, Group 4 and the lawyers within our audience. Our aides- a Group 4 Czech speaker and a Polish speaker from the cast translated.

The forum that took place was directed, rather than enacted by the audience. Several possibilities were explored but the audience were far more interested in why Havlicek was trapped between immigration laws- and as was later asked- why indeed were they in their predicament- why Oakington? I would try and deflect these questions onto the experts in the room- those who work in this area (immigration lawyers, home office and group 4) and yet no one could answer. We didn't reach any grand schemes of how to get Havlicek off the bridge but we did ask many questions- of the institutions which govern. One man stood up from the audience and thanked us but asked what would happen to him tomorrow. He pleaded- 'People outside need to know about us'. An open discussion ensued- people wanted to talk- about themselves- about home- about why they came here- it was heated, passionate, angry. The Group 4 staff started to look uncomfortable but didn't intervene. When the detainees went back to their accommodation they finally spoke out 'Romanies are the worst- you get to know when you work here'.

How much can theatre do?

Programme Notes:
Horváth is a very un-English writer - it is something we have found over and over as we've worked on this text: His characters form a socially complex landscape, but individually they do not have deep psychological motivation: very much as most of us don't, when we are running to catch a bus or going about the everyday – what results is a cross between a middle European version of commedia del arte and people you see on the street.

The cruelty of the play does not lie in malice or even, ultimately, lack of empathy. It is more chilling: these figures, at once strange and utterly ordinary, are not willing to take action against a system that is palpably absurd. Since beginning the project, we have heard stories over and over of people in situations very similar to Havlicek's. At a time when the Government is becoming increasingly suspicious of the individual, and is putting in place bureaucratic systems designed to 'modernise' Britain, developing awareness of the potential absurdity - and tragedy - of intransigent systems is of increasing urgency. As in the play, when someone falls through the gaps in the system, all too often, no one really wants to know.

The play is less about difference than about sameness - there is little to distinguish Havlicek from the other characters in attitude and temperament - it is simply that the law does not accommodate those whose circumstances do not fit an established pattern. Even a highly complex bureaucratic system cannot calculate for every eventuality; the more emphasis that is placed on bureaucracy – e.g. ID cards or entitlement cards - the more chance there is that it could be any of us who ends up like Havlicek, caught between systems.
It is exciting to have the chance to both translate and direct: they are two quite separate acts, but to have had the chance to get so utterly inside the language of the play has undoubtedly informed my reading of the play as a director. The simplicity of the writing is deceptive, creating a whole world in performance resembling a black fairytale, as oddly familiar as it is absurd.
- Zoe Svendsen, October 2002

Horváth wrote Back and Forth in 1933, interested in ‘The gigantic struggle between the individual and society, this eternal slaughterhouse...’ Horváth was very much writing out of his times when himself and thousands of other Jewish refugees fled the Nazis in search of a new homeland. The poignancy is that that the play still bears resonance with today as millions seek new homelands today for reasons of persecution or for want of a better life while governments change laws and media devours the individual.
… has anything changed at all?

Working with asylum seekers and staff at Oakington Immigration Reception Centre, visiting Refugee Council Dispersals and conducting workshops and questionnaires with our schools audiences we have gauged feelings beyond the blanket media views, but have also gleaned what a key role the media has to play when fourteen year olds comment -
'I feel angry that they all want to come to England. Why don’t they just stay in France. They get treated a lot better than many British people. They don't speak English properly.'
'They should stay at home.'
…Is there hope?

The play does not present an easy solution to Havlicek's plight, and in real life one doesn’t exist or does it? It appears that ends are tied all too neatly, but maybe that is what a human gesture looks like at the hands of bureaucracy. Horváth’s professed aim in writing the play was to show: 'How easy it is by means of a human gesture to render inhuman laws impotent'. The question is raised: what is the ratio of human gesture to inhuman law?

We hope that you enjoy the performance and you find the issues it raises thought provoking. We would be keen to hear your response after the show.
Claire Pamment (Dramaturg) October 2002

Back and Forth man with suitcase (large)

'It’s a good thing I don’t have a family, otherwise there would be several of us standing here' (Havlicek)

Article on racism in schools by the head of drama at Long Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge, on the response at his school to Back and Forth (PDF).

http://www.crsg.org.uk
Cambridge Refugee Support Service: aiming to empower and support refugees and asylum seekers

http://www.cia.gov
CIA: Central Intelligence Agency, USA. Briefs on variety of countries and political activity.

http://www.guardian.co.uk
Guardian/Observer newspaper: articles online with refugee/asylum archive specials

http://www.hrw.org
Human Rights Watch: Monitoring of Human Rights around the world

http://www.irr.org.uk
Institute of Race Relations: Resources on refugees and asylum seekers including an online project 'Schools against deportations'

http://oxfam.org.uk
Oxfam's response to media reports and government proposals regarding asylum seekers

http://www.ramproject.co.uk
Refugees, asylum seekers and mass media
Promoting best practice in media representation of refugee and asylum issues

http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk
Refugee Council, provides support for refugees and in-service training for teachers, advice to school, students and publications for use in class. Also publish InExile magazine.

http://www.refugeeweek.org.uk
Refugee week organised by the arts council annually: encourage students to get involved next June


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			Back and Forth: by Ödön von Horváth, translated from the German by Zoe Svendsen. In association with Escape Artists for The Edge Festival and Junction CDC: Theatreplan supported company 2002/03. Company: Cast: Paul Malcolm (Havlicek) Dean Michael Julian (Szamek) Peter Warrick (Mrshitzka) Kelda Holmes (Leda, Y) Alex Barclay (Konstantin) Kasia Zaremba- Byrne (Eva) Nicolette Kay (Mrs Hanusch) David Humeau (Smugglitschinski, X) Production: Zoe Svendsen (Director, Translator) Claire Pamment (Dramaturg, Education) Nick Hayman Joyce (Production Manager) Lucille Acevedo Jones (Designer) Suzanne Ahmet (Production assistant) Mark Light (Composer) Leo Mellor (Additional song lyrics) Tom Steer (Technical Manager) James Booth (Publicity design) Back and Forth toured various venues in Cambridgeshire (as part of the Cambridge Edge Festival) and London (Chats Palace) October- November 2002. Back and Forth used a new translation of Ödon von Horváth’s farcical Hin und Her, with a satirical edge on immigration systems. The piece reached approximately 2000 people as part of The Edge Festival, touring schools, colleges, arts centres and Oakington Immigration, creating discussion with audiences through the piece, exhibitions, debates and forum theatre workshops about immigration issues today. A number of pre-production workshops with asylum seekers and sixth form students also supported the piece. What happens if you end up stuck on a bridge over the river border between two unidentified countries, unable to enter either because of a loophole in the law? Horváth's play is a comedy of thwarted love and mistaken identity, involving everyone from local drug smugglers to heads of state, with a dark satirical edge which sharply calls into question simplistic attitudes to immigration. Playing in both public theatres and Oakington Immigration Reception Centre, Context’s adaptation creates a multi-media and multi-lingual theatrical experience, generating debate to dissolve boundaries and dispel myths. A panel discussion followed the performance at the Cambridge Drama Centre, chaired by Claire Pamment, and offering the audience to put their questions to experts on the issues. Panel: Teri Whitaker, Independent film maker, Bedford; Mike Lewis, Cambridge Against Refugee Detention; Ruth Bagnall, Labour Councillor, Cambridge; and Fateiha Yazdi, Refugee Council Ipswich 'I admire the way you've built links between the play and a contemporary predicament… a distinctive launch project for your company' - Steve Waters, playwright. 'Well it’s the truth, isn’t it? Of our position?' Stanford, asylum seeker detained at Oakington Immigration reception Centre, in response to workshop for Back and Forth, prior to production. Performing at Oakington Just two weeks before our intended performance at Oakington Immigration Reception Centre we received a call from the centre manager telling us that the law had changed and that the centre was to be emptied. The relationship with the farce posed in the play was ironic. The detainees- from all corners of the globe- were to be shifted to other detention centres and Oakington was to accept immigrants only from the Eastern European countries due to join the EU in 2005. The shift in culture, language and situation of our audience was drastic. These people weren't given the opportunity to stay in the UK while their claim had been tried and tested - if there was doubt over their asylum claim they would be sent back to the country while their papers were investigated. The audience were mainly Romanies from Poland, many with young children. As the audience filed in there was suspicion over who we were, why we were there- were we attached to the Home Office?! Group Four (who run the Centre) staff made their banter amongst colleagues as our cast showed audience members to their seats. I stood and chatted to the staff briefly, and encouraged them to sit, wanting them to be part of the audience but they wouldn't sit with the detainees - 'We have to stay here in case they try to escape!' All said in banter but a direct reference to the Yarls' Wood Riot of the previous year. I introduced the company and the piece to the audience- careful to rid any Home Office affiliation- and watched the play via the responses of the audience. If an entrance came from the back of the audience there would be a look of delight- a cry for magic- just as we had seen in the faces of some of our school's audiences. There were chuckles- and we held our audience despite language barriers. When it came to the end I stood up and thanked the audience and explained that we were going to do forum- attempting to finding a solution to Havlicek's predicament, collectively- the detainees, Group 4 and the lawyers within our audience. Our aides- a Group 4 Czech speaker and a Polish speaker from the cast translated. The forum that took place was directed, rather than enacted by the audience. Several possibilities were explored but the audience were far more interested in why Havlicek was trapped between immigration laws- and as was later asked- why indeed were they in their predicament- why Oakington? I would try and deflect these questions onto the experts in the room- those who work in this area (immigration lawyers, home office and group 4) and yet no one could answer. We didn't reach any grand schemes of how to get Havlicek off the bridge but we did ask many questions- of the institutions which govern. One man stood up from the audience and thanked us but asked what would happen to him tomorrow. He pleaded- 'People outside need to know about us'. An open discussion ensued- people wanted to talk- about themselves- about home- about why they came here- it was heated, passionate, angry. The Group 4 staff started to look uncomfortable but didn't intervene. When the detainees went back to their accommodation they finally spoke out 'Romanies are the worst- you get to know when you work here'. How much can theatre do? Programme Notes: Horváth is a very un-English writer - it is something we have found over and over as we've worked on this text: His characters form a socially complex landscape, but individually they do not have deep psychological motivation: very much as most of us don't, when we are running to catch a bus or going about the everyday – what results is a cross between a middle European version of commedia del arte and people you see on the street. The cruelty of the play does not lie in malice or even, ultimately, lack of empathy. It is more chilling: these figures, at once strange and utterly ordinary, are not willing to take action against a system that is palpably absurd. Since beginning the project, we have heard stories over and over of people in situations very similar to Havlicek's. At a time when the Government is becoming increasingly suspicious of the individual, and is putting in place bureaucratic systems designed to 'modernise' Britain, developing awareness of the potential absurdity - and tragedy - of intransigent systems is of increasing urgency. As in the play, when someone falls through the gaps in the system, all too often, no one really wants to know. The play is less about difference than about sameness - there is little to distinguish Havlicek from the other characters in attitude and temperament - it is simply that the law does not accommodate those whose circumstances do not fit an established pattern. Even a highly complex bureaucratic system cannot calculate for every eventuality; the more emphasis that is placed on bureaucracy – e.g. ID cards or entitlement cards - the more chance there is that it could be any of us who ends up like Havlicek, caught between systems. It is exciting to have the chance to both translate and direct: they are two quite separate acts, but to have had the chance to get so utterly inside the language of the play has undoubtedly informed my reading of the play as a director. The simplicity of the writing is deceptive, creating a whole world in performance resembling a black fairytale, as oddly familiar as it is absurd. - Zoe Svendsen, October 2002 Horváth wrote Back and Forth in 1933, interested in ‘The gigantic struggle between the individual and society, this eternal slaughterhouse...’ Horváth was very much writing out of his times when himself and thousands of other Jewish refugees fled the Nazis in search of a new homeland. The poignancy is that that the play still bears resonance with today as millions seek new homelands today for reasons of persecution or for want of a better life while governments change laws and media devours the individual. … has anything changed at all? Working with asylum seekers and staff at Oakington Immigration Reception Centre, visiting Refugee Council Dispersals and conducting workshops and questionnaires with our schools audiences we have gauged feelings beyond the blanket media views, but have also gleaned what a key role the media has to play when fourteen year olds comment - 'I feel angry that they all want to come to England. Why don’t they just stay in France. They get treated a lot better than many British people. They don't speak English properly.' 'They should stay at home.' …Is there hope? The play does not present an easy solution to Havlicek's plight, and in real life one doesn’t exist or does it? It appears that ends are tied all too neatly, but maybe that is what a human gesture looks like at the hands of bureaucracy. Horváth’s professed aim in writing the play was to show: 'How easy it is by means of a human gesture to render inhuman laws impotent'. The question is raised: what is the ratio of human gesture to inhuman law? We hope that you enjoy the performance and you find the issues it raises thought provoking. We would be keen to hear your response after the show. Claire Pamment (Dramaturg) October 2002 'It’s a good thing I don’t have a family, otherwise there would be several of us standing here' (Havlicek) Download education pack (PDF) Article on racism in schools by the head of drama at Long Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge, on the response at his school to Back and Forth (PDF). Links to articles on asylum on other websites: Anne Karpf on the uncanny resemblance between language used in Britain about the Jews in the 30’s and language used about asylum seekers today: http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,728607,00.html Head of the Refugee Council, Nick Hardwick on alternatives to the present treatment of asylum seekers: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,737560,00.html Other links: http://www.web.amnesty.org Amnesty: promoting human rights around the world http://www.asylumsupport.info Asylum Support Information, for asylum seekers and about asylum seeking issues http://www.crsg.org.uk Cambridge Refugee Support Service: aiming to empower and support refugees and asylum seekers http://www.srcf.ucam.org CARD: Cambridge Against Refugee Detention http://www.cia.gov CIA: Central Intelligence Agency, USA. Briefs on variety of countries and political activity. http://www.ecre.org European Council on Refugees and Exiles http://www.guardian.co.uk Guardian/Observer newspaper: articles online with refugee/asylum archive specials http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk Home office's online resource for immigration and nationality http://www.hrw.org Human Rights Watch: Monitoring of Human Rights around the world http://www.irr.org.uk Institute of Race Relations: Resources on refugees and asylum seekers including an online project 'Schools against deportations' http://www.mori.com/polls/2002/tgwu.shtml MORI: National statistics on asylum seekers http://www.ncadc.org.uk National co-alition of anti-deportation campaigns http://oxfam.org.uk Oxfam's response to media reports and government proposals regarding asylum seekers http://www.ramproject.co.uk Refugees, asylum seekers and mass media Promoting best practice in media representation of refugee and asylum issues http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk Refugee Council, provides support for refugees and in-service training for teachers, advice to school, students and publications for use in class. Also publish InExile magazine. http://www.refugeeweek.org.uk Refugee week organised by the arts council annually: encourage students to get involved next June http://www.unhcr.ch United Nations Refugee Agency http://www.statewatch.org/ http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/ © Context Theatre MMIV return to top \| previous page