Sunday Times: Air crashes play survives turbulence [ 14feb02 ]

AAP
14feb02
A CONTROVERSIAL play based on transcripts from black box flight recorders of doomed aircraft has attracted just one complaint, despite being performed in the wake of September 11 terrorist attacks.

Charlie Victor Romeo, performed by the New York-based Collective: Unconscious, had its Australian premiere last night as part of the Perth International Arts Festival.

It uses the verbatim dialogue between pilots in six real-life airline emergencies to create a tense and psychologically gripping drama that enjoyed a sold-out run off Broadway in 2000.

Using a stark stage depicting the cockpit of an aircraft, the performance revolves around the interaction between pilots as they struggle to control disintegrating aircraft in the final minutes before they crash.

PIAF director Sean Doran said he had received only one complaint about his decision to include the play in the festival program, from someone who thought it was insensitive in the wake of September 11.

"People have responded to it in a proper and mature way which I think is a mark of respect from audiences here and what they're looking to get from a festival," Mr Doran said.

"What it's about is the triumph of the human spirit against all odds, and I think people appreciate that."

CVR co-creator Bob Berger rejects accusations the play is deliberately sensationalist.

"The idea of sensationalism was something that we talked a lot about," he said.

"My experience at the scene of a plane crash, when I was working for CNN, was that it's all about spectacle for the media – it ends up being something that's over-simplified and is represented to the people as pictures of burning wreckage, pictures of the victims' families.

"In Charlie Victor Romeo the spectacle of the disaster, the sensation of what happened isn't there.

"You're seeing something that you don't think about when you hear about plane crashes, which is the very personal, up-front human experience of these people trying to survive."

He admits his theatre company Collective: Unconscious was nervous about continuing the play in the wake of September 11, but believed there was never any question of the show not going on.

In a statement issued a week after the attacks, the company said "the best course of action for us is to throw ourselves into our lives and work with renewed vigour, or else the goals of the criminals responsible for these horrible tragedies will have been achieved".

Mr Berger said he feared there may have been a backlash against the show because of its jarring and confrontational nature, but that didn't eventuate.

Airline pilots have flocked to see the play, as have survivors of air disasters, including one of the pilots depicted in the play.

But probably the most surprising level of interest has come from the US Air Force, which has taped the play to use as a training video for air crews.

"We've been told this piece of theatre has the ability to save people's lives, which for me has totally changed the way I think about it – it's now incredibly important that it is performed," Mr Berger said.

Charlie Victor Romeo plays in Perth until February 23.