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| Flavius, by Julian Felice - my own annotated copy |
Julian is Gibraltar's first internationally-published playwright, whose works have been performed in UK and in USA as well as in Gibraltar. I should also mention he has a string of awards to his name, for writing, performing, directing and more. As a local drama teacher, he has been of significant inspiration to young Gibraltarians and there are many who have learned the dramatic arts with him who have gone on to study and work in theatre both in UK and back home in Gibraltar.
In his works, Julian has never flinched from taking on controversial or difficult subjects. For example, The Amazing Angelman, published by Eldridge Plays, takes on an exploration of a debilitating condition called Angelman Syndrome by giving an account of a young man in Gibraltar who is the only person in Gib ever to have suffered this condition, and the effect of the syndrome, not just on the young man, but on his family. I watched its first live performance which was so emotive that many of the audience were in tears.
Julian has also reached into Gibraltar's turbulent and, at times, controversial history for material for his plays, not so much making his own commentary on the events of history, but opening these up for discussion. Utrecht comes readily to mind, a play that explores the thorny issue of the Gibraltar / Spain border. Of course, in July, the restrictions on this are set to be lifted, but the matter is not without intense controversy and scrutiny.
Julian's style is not didactic; his work tends to lay out what might be, and lets the audience consider the what ifs. This he does extremely well with Flavius. And, if you are going to lock horns with controversy, then there are few more inflammatory subjects than the shooting of unarmed members of the IRA by SAS soldiers in broad daylight in the street in Gibraltar, an event also known as Operation Flavius. It was a fascinating if somewhat dark episode in Gibraltar's recent history, taking place in 1988 at the height of what some tamely call "The Troubles".
I researched this event a little myself, having been asked some years ago by a local magazine to write an article on it, only to have the article pulled at the last minute because the editors were concerned that the subject was too delicate, too controversial, risked ruffling left-over colonial feathers. I don't blame the editors; they had a magazine to produce and keep profitable, but I still smart at being censored. And I still dislike the silence, the desire in some circles to try to pretend that this ugly episode did not happen just to try to keep some false gloss on our history. Sometimes it is up to the arts to hold on to community history, and this is what Julian has done. He was in Gibraltar in 1988, a young boy but still remembers references to the event; community memory. So you will understand how keen I was to get my hands on a copy of the full length version of Flavius.
Julian chose to explore the event through dramatisation, which is his absolute forté. Flavius is a fictional account of those events and Julian first wrote a one-act version of the play for the 2013 Gibraltar Drama Festival. By happy coincidence I was there when it was first performed and, short though it was and acted by a young team of players still at school and learning the art of drama, I was riveted. What Julian aimed to achieve, I thought worked very well: documentary theatre combined with a more personal approach, mixing the 'this happened' with 'this is what I saw and felt and remember'.
So what did I make of my reading of the script? There are those who would argue that writing a play is not writing literature. I'm not one of those. Otherwise would Shakespeare, Marlowe, Wilde, Bernard Shaw be in the English literary cannon? Would our kids be obliged to study those works for the Literature A-levels? Writing the script for a play is as demanding a writing process as any other. A playwright needs to demonstrate skills in story-telling, narrative, suspense, pace, tension, character development, humour, bathos, pathos, conveying emotion and more, and all within the constraints of using only dialogue and some sparse stage directions, because importantly, for an audience to fully access a play, a director and the players also need to be able to interpret what the writer portrays, and these interpretations will vary. A playwright drafts a play and then sends it out into the world for people to make what they will. It is a selfless act of creation. A novelist may have many more threads to weave which can be challenging, but will retain far greater control. To me writing a play is as much part of the art of writing as any other, but possibly harder.
Back to Flavius. I read it in one sitting and not just because many plays can be read quickly, but because I didn't want to stop reading. The script tells a compelling story throughout which, as a reader, you are asking yourself: what if? What if the gang had been intercepted at the border? What if they had detonated explosives? What if they had been arrested rather than shot? What if the shooting had been part of a larger plan we don't know about? What if they had got away and committed other atrocities elsewhere? This is part of the genius of the play. It makes us reflect, think, discuss, explore other possibilities. Above all, it puts human beings at the heart of the story. The IRA members were shown as human beings with particular perspectives. We were shown children, families, members of the armed forces and police who had the burden of making decisions and each held a particular perspective. There is no judgement in the play. The judgement is left to the audience. There is no decision as to what was right and what was wrong, because even in hindsight, some things are too complex to be just right or just wrong.
Whether you are interested in Gibraltarian history, or in theatre and how it contributes to community memory, or a writer looking at examples of techniques in story interpretation and retelling, Flavius is a great read, even if it makes you feel uncomfortable.
Do I have any criticism? Some might say that although it purports to be entirely objective, that the Irish side of the story carries less weight. We don't hear much about the families of those shot, for example, nor do we explore a scenario where they are arrested instead of killed. In fact, in hindsight, if they had been arrested, some of the more gruesome and deadly consequences of the shootings that took place at the funerals of those shot may not have happened. Does this detract from the overall even handedness with which Julian handles this complex and emotionally-laden event? No, I don't think so. This is a Gibraltarian play about a a Gibraltarian event, part of our history, and Julian presents it exactly as such.
And if it isn't comfortable history, so much the better. Art is not meant to have you cosied up in your seat but sitting up and taking notice. Flavius certainly achieves that.
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| Julian Felice |
Photos courtesy of Julian's social media...
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