I was offered last year to direct D.R.Hill's play Draining The Swamp, about the rise of British fascism. Above, a screenshot of the show performed in Hastings, with projections edited by Jeffrey Choy and produced by DRH arts. Since I started Exchange Theatre and Sartre's The Flies in 2009, up until Noor in 2019, reminding of the dangers of fascism is at the heart of our work. So, Draining the Swamp became so significant to me that I associated Exchange Theatre's whole manpower to promote and amplify it. We held Q&As in front of school groups, warning how easy it had been and is yet again for the far right to seem appealing... and how vigilant we ought to be today ...
We could not imagine how quick a fascist salute would re-appear in the public realm. And the most ironic thing is: do you know how difficult it is to direct a fascist salute ? People who have worked on such material would know: It's very hard, it's a heavily loaded symbol, it carries so much history of hatred, it's not a nice thing to ask actors, nor is it comfortable for them to be doing it. We even had a venue turning down a poster on which Oswald Mosley takes a fascist salute ! "Understandably, we thought, it is uneasy"...
... Well... Suddenly, here we are, a year after rehearsals started on this alarming production, and a fascist salute comes back, without any doubts possible, and not in an underground neo-nazi faction, but by one of the most powerful man on earth, glorified by power and money, railing peoples against each other... and so joyfully and easily executed....
We truly better watch out. Like in this picture, they're coming to town. How easy will it be to resist or raise our hand ?
David Furlong - Artistic director of Exchange Theatre
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