I recently had a chat to Mari Lourey, author of the play ‘Bare Witness’.
The play is realistic and gritty portrayal of the lives of photographic journalists and Mari has created a many layered piece starting from the title itself. The term ‘bare witness’ refers to the journalist bearing witness and recording what they see for the world, by extension the spelling of the title would indicate that this bearing witness should be a ‘bare witness’ recording without embellishment the raw reality of conflict and its consequences around the world.
The camera of a photo journalist is ironically a weapon for disarmament but unfortunately it often seems the image that get the most attention are those of the display of real weaponry.
The life of a photo journalist in these areas of conflict is understandably a harrowing one and with all the destruction around them there is a need to cling to some symbol of beauty and we see an example of this in the play with one of the female photo journalists talking about her need to buy shoes to wear in the volatile and sad places she goes, these shoes she calls ‘contained beauty’ in a world which seems out of control and one gets a sense that like Dorothy’s ruby red slippers in The Wizard of Oz there is the conflicting desire is to click them together and go home.
There is one particular scene where a photo is taken of a blind woman and this becomes a career making shot for the photographer and our protagonist. There is irony in the women’s blindness in a play about photo journalism, yet her inability to see doesn’t prevent her pain and perhaps also she reminds us we cannot turn a blind eye to suffering.
Perhaps one of the most telling comments is a moment created possibly by the author’s sub conscious. To lighten the mood Mari includes a joke about the man who tells a doctor he thinks he is a moth and the doctor suggests he needs to see a psychiatrist not a doctor, the man agrees so the doctor asks why he is there, the man answers because the light was on, the idea being he couldn’t resist the light.
Perhaps this is the life of a photo journalist irresistibly drawn to the camera and to illuminating a dark place. A job that brings that illumination to an audience hopefully for the betterment of mankind.
Mari has a musical background and employs this knowledge and experience to the play in supplying a soundtrack for her characters.
‘Bare Witness’ will be showing at the Theatre Royal on Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 November at 8pm.
Paula Xiberras
