Leaving the National Theatre scratching my head, I had just seen Peter Brooks’ and Marie-Hélène Estienne’s The Prisoner. Mavuso, the protagonist, finds his father bedded with his sister, and in a jealous rage the young man bludgeons his father to death. What follows seals the destiny for Mavuso, as he is condemned by his Uncle Ezikeil (brother of Mavuso’s father) to many a year incarcerated. The difference here is that Mavuso is not placed in prison, but rather on a desert hill that faces that prison. He is also in full view of the prisoners, in a state where he is surrounded by the fruits of freedom.
If abjectness was a theme The Prisoner was trying to convey, then it succeeded in the first instance through stage setting. The stage was barren and bare, containing a few rocks and large sticks presumably fallen from trees. This is perhaps where the audience begin to prepare to witness scenes they may find uncomfortable, but as the saying goes ‘life is no fairytale’. Not only does the established setting allude to a certain place in time but also the laboured existence Mavuso is about to endure.
There are also moments during the play that force the audience to wince, particularly when acts of punishment are administered on the protagonist that continue to blur the lines surrounding so-called moral punishment. It is important to note that this is not a love story nor is it a production written to portray the notion of a functional nuclear family. In fact, The Prisoner explores incest in similar fashion to Oedipus Rex, and in ways that explore the dysfunctionality of human existence which becomes a central theme in the play.
Mavuso is arguably forced to suffer a fate worse than death, through his revoked freedom in the face of all things free. I get the feeling this play is less about the narrative, and more the central themes that offer the audience a chance to be self-reflective throughout the performance. Are Mavuso’s experiences designed the gnaw away at our understandings of free will, and ultimately what it is to be free? This is apparent when those in prison believe to be observing Mavuso’s freedom, yet Mavuso himself is experiencing anything but, allowing us to challenge our very own ideas of what freedom entails. In a society where the imprisonment of offenders to prevent re-offending is common practice, The Prisoner appears to examine as to whether such can ever be a catalyst for change.
The Prisoner combines an engrossing performance with the ability to ask profound questions. Moreover, we then begin to question a justice system that capitalises on our existential conundrums surrounding free will. I cannot lie, I left the performance with more questions than answers. This is merely theatre doing what it is supposed to do, and with uncertainty comes discussion of which there is much to be gained.
