Credit: Jazmin Campbell

The production "Lie of the Land", performed yesterday evening at St George's International School Luxembourg, brought local actors to the stage for their interpretation of the disaster that is Brexit. 

Originally devised and staged in the UK, BRitish Immigrants Living in Luxembourg asbl (BRILL) invited theatre director Philip Knight to recreate his play in Luxembourg using local professional and amateur actors and musicians. Using improvisation, the company created the Luxembourg version of the performance in 42 hours of rehearsals in just over one week. 

Beginning with the British Empire and the Second World War, the play offered a brief, dramatic history of UK-EU relations up until the UK's accession in 1973 and ultimately its decision to withdraw from the EU in the 2016 Brexit referendum. From fake news to unicorns, the actors portrayed events leading to this decision before going on to interpret its consequences, namely job losses and damage to the NHS. The first act ended with a rather humorous portrayal of British Prime Minister Theresa May's (portrayed as the "Maybot") failure to pass her Brexit deal in Parliament. 

The second act took the form of a staged "Question Time" with real questions from the audience, thus adding an interactive element to the play. The session saw an interesting debate between Andrew "Barage" (actor Andrew Stewart) and Carlos "Pujol" (actor Carlos Simón Francés), arguing in favour of Brexit (and Catalonia's independence), and the other panelists and several audience members who argued against. All agreed, however, that withdrawing from the EU in just three week's time was unlikely. And so, the theatrics of Brexit continues...

The event ended with the presentation of a book on Luxembourg to the play's director, Philip Knight, who travelled to the Grand Duchy, for the first time, especially for this Luxembourg edition.