Can you debate extremist hate? This is the question at the core of Power of Sail, Paul Grellong’s campus-based play, brought to the London stage by director Dominic Dromgoole, where a stubborn Harvard professor faces backlash for platforming the hot, new white supremacist wunderkind on the block at his prestigious annual symposium. This thrilling and darkly funny show confronts the dog-whistling issue of free speech versus cancel culture, exposing our inability to defeat insidious hatred.
“The answer to hate speech is more speech,” states the professor, Charles Nichols, over-confident that his scholarly rhetoric will destroy the Nazi’s reputation. Julian Ovenden shines in the role, simultaneously promoting his high-minded ideals to his colleagues and students, while also grappling with his perceived loss of power within an institution his family built. He is a captivating performer to watch, bringing authenticity and humour to his quiet moments as he struggles against his un-PC jealousy towards his colleagues.
All the characters in Power of Sail hold contradictory agendas and beliefs to what they promote outwardly. This is exposed deliciously in flashback scenes unravelling the web of secrets set up within the events of the play. The institution of higher learning forces everyone to believe that going against the system requires utter secrecy, lying, and maybe some light criminal activity. Grellong shows us a terrifying insight into post-fake news America, where everyone feels persecuted, even if they aren’t.
The outside world and ensuing discourse are kept front and centre throughout Power of Sail. Protest sounds are a continuous feature. These students, who are flippantly disregarded as snowflakes by Nichols, aren’t a true threat to his power. However, the internet is. Video effects of tweets and news reports by Mike Sablone are used with expert effect during the interludes to highlight the intensifying discourse encroaching on Nichols. It’s claustrophobic.
It was back in 2017 when the alt-right marched on Charlottesville, sending shockwaves around white, liberal Americans who had resolved to see these characters as figures of the past. Paul Grellong’s Power of Sail is an encapsulation of this turmoil taking place between belief systems and personal agendas. There aren’t clear answers to this issue. Nothing is easily debated away.
Power of Sail is sure to captivate, amuse, and challenge.
