Power of Sail at the Menier Chocolate Factory examines and explores the limits of free speech. Even if we have the right to say anything do we have the right to say it anywhere? And what are the implications of that choice?
Former protégé scholar Baxter Forrest (Giles Terera) alludes to Popper’s paradox that in order to be a tolerant society we must be intolerant of intolerance. This play tests the edges of that theory when Forrest’s former mentor (Julian Ovenden) invites a white supremacist to speak at his rarefied campus in an effort to staunch his failing career.
Some scenes are more powerful than others, Terera talking with the next protégé hopeful (Michael Benz) is especially successful as is Terera when he separates his own path from his mentor’s in an emotional showdown.
The lighting (Oliver Fenwick) and sound (Ella Wahlström) choices bring the play straight into today as they echo the urgency of round-the-clock media as it exaggerates and escalates issues. The set (Paul Farnsworth) is also very clever as it enables a range of very difference scenes from an office, to various house, a train station and a bar.
The time line does move around somewhat and the ending is not completely laid out which some may find frustrating. But this play is a useful unpicking of some important political choices.
Have others seen Power of Sail? What were your thoughts?
Red Bus Londinium Life 
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