7.30pm: Thurs 13th December
Studio 1, Parry Williams Building
Penglais Campus, Aberystwyth
Tickets: £10 (£8)
Box-Office 01970 622133
I believe God did create the world. And I think we're finding out more and more and more as to how it actually happened.
George W. Bush, interview in U.S. News, 6 December 1999
“You can't make a monkey out of me”, sings a voice on squeaky old vinyl. On a screen running the entire width of the stage we see smartly dressed men wearing cane hats as protection against the scorching sun, moving jerkily to and fro in a black and white film.
Dayton, Tennessee, 1925: John Scopes, a young biology teacher is accused of breaking the law because he taught the theory of evolution to his classes. Dubbed 'The Monkey Trial', the case became a clash of the titans between fundamentalism and modernism, religion and science, dogma and intellectual freedom.
The result is a sometimes hilarious exposition about biblical improbabilities in a battle fought by he-men who have right on their side. It is a rhetorical battle, as bombastic as it is futile, as the anticlimax of the eventual verdict shows, but it is also a disturbing portrait of the arbitrariness of ‘justice’. The direction and the wonderful performance by the three actors as well as the surprising topicality of the material make this play an absolute must. Elke Van Campenhout, De Standaard
Ceir llais yn canu “You can't make a monkey out of me” ar hen finyl gwichlyd. Ar sgrin sy’n llenwi lled y llwyfan, gwelwn ddynion mewn dillad smart yn gwisgo hetiau gwiail i’w gwarchod rhag yr haul chwilboeth ac yn symud yn ôl a blaen yn herciog mewn ffilm ddu a gwyn.
Dayton, Tennessee, 1925: Mae John Scopes, athro bioleg ifanc, yn cael ei gyhuddo o dorri’r gyfraith oherwydd ei fod yn dysgu theori esblygiad i’w ddosbarthiadau. Cafodd y treial ei alw’n ‘Dreial y Mwnci’ (‘The Monkey Trial'), a daeth yr achos i fod yn wrthdaro rhwng ffwndamentaliaeth a moderniaeth, crefydd a gwyddoniaeth, dogma a rhyddid deallusol
O ganlyniad fe geir eglurhad, sydd weithiau’n hynod ddoniol, ar ddigwyddiadau beiblaidd annhebygol mewn brwydr rhwng rhyfelwyr gwrol sydd, bob un, yn ymladd dros gyfiawnder. Brwydr rethregol yw hi, sydd yr un mor swnllyd ag y mae’n ofer, fel y mae disgynneb y dyfarniad terfynol yn ei ddangos yn y pendraw, ond mae hefyd yn cynnig portread anghysurus o natur fympwyol ‘cyfiawnder’. Mae’r cyfeirio a’r perfformiad gwych gan y tri actor, yn ogystal â’r ffaith ei bod hi’n syndod o amserol, yn golygu bod rhaid i chi fynd i weld y ddrama hon. Elke Van Campenhout, De Standaard
|
