Counted?
County Hall, until 22 May
The Real Thing
Old Vic, until 5 June
Voting is so irrational as to qualify as an act of religious devotion. The process involves a fabulous confluence of approximations. Candidates offer a pattern of promises. Voters select the pattern that most closely meets their needs. And though there may be only the barest overlap between the needs and the promises, the voters maintain a belief that their choice carries influence even after it’s been diluted in the choices of millions of others. It’s a miracle anyone votes at all. A new verbatim play, Counted?, examines our attitudes towards the process.
Scrupulously researched, superbly acted, and staged in the austere grandeur of County Hall’s debating chamber, this is a terrific slice of entertainment. The material has been recorded by unobtrusive radio mikes and the result is far more authentic than a TV documentary and its fly-on-the-wall approach.
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