The Screens
by Jean Genet, Bernard Frechtman

Its subject is the Algerian War of Independence, and it is an intricately crafted, grandiose construction - beguiling and baffling in equal measure.

While the most openly political of Genet's plays, the work is not revolutionary in intent.

Rather, as the play progresses the radical direction of lighting and the use of folding canvases serve to segment and compartmentalise the drama, and in so doing they transform the extremities of war into a series of incantatory scenes, vital and ritualistic, that bring stability to an otherwise unbearable reality.

Haunting, savage and grotesque, The Screens is none the less an emotionally invigorating work that demonstrates redemption through abjection.