Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Reece Dinsdale, James Harkness, Cyril Nri, Maggie McCarthy, Amiera Darwish, Charlotte Lucas, Gyuri Sarossy, Theo Cowan, Barry McCarthy, Helen Ryan, Don Gallagher, Ekow Quartey.

History could have been so different but it is the joy of speculation that only makes the subject interesting, for the time the events take place, the winner and the loser are only remembered for being in the same race. It is up to the historians, the journalists and the playwrights to put flesh on the bones and the gloss of pallor of imagination on the cheeks of the long since departed. History though is not quite viewed in the same way when there is The Absence of War dictating the proceedings.

The political landscape of the late 1980s and early 1990s was one at least there seemed to be a dividing line between the two major parties of the British electoral establishment, yet even after a decade of neglect and putting needs of the few above the good of the many, there was seemingly little chance that the 1992 election would sweep into power anything other than a John Major Government. The slim chance was not created by the popularity of one party, more so the negativity that came to be hung around those that surely should have swept to power with an assured majority.

Writer David Hare perhaps understands that in ways that might seem unfathomable to the many and in his satirical, yet astonishingly frank play, The Absence of War, the times that the country lived through is back to somehow haunt the theatre goer. The might haves and could have beens and yet as is so well pointed out throughout the play, the future was so much nearer than anybody could have thought, the keys to the kingdom, the prize of leadership was but a election defeat away.

The Right Honourable George Jones is the man for whom a party has the hopes in but the problem is the man is too good, he is human, flaws and all but he is good, a true man of worth and of the people. He is also the biggest liability the party has because he is not allowed to speak his true mind, his is the message that they cling to but it is not his message, the sight of the Spin Doctor is unnervingly hovering in the back ground.

For Reece Dinsdale, this is moment to savour, to be placed into the same role as his old colleague and much missed friend John Thaw played with a quiet magnificence, is to see just how actors can influence the present. Reece Dinsdale though carves a new line into the sand, perhaps arguably one that is deeper, more grounded and yet with that same beautiful resonance that Mr. Thaw captured so well. As George Jones, all the hope, all the faith and optimism are there waiting, stirring and becoming vibrant, to behold the running the country, yet as if foretold, the downfall is nothing short of Shakespearian Tragedy. The often mixed up divisions of tragic and tragedy are too numerous but in 1992, in which the play is set, both are seen, the tragedy of not listening to what is foretold and the tragic waste to the country. The fall from grace from so close to the ultimate goal is chilling and one steeped in despair.

With Cyril Nri and Charlotte Lucas in the cast adding Machiavellian charm to the proceedings, The Absence of War is a play not just to reminisce over the past, to see the parallels that now run deep in the country, but to be seen as a warning from history, that to ignore what you truly want to say, when the country needs true leadership, allows the wrong person to win and the country is then the biggest loser of all.

A timely reminder of the subtleties of politics, The Absence of War is conspicuous by its detail.

Ian D. Hall