By Community Correspondent Finbar Fitzgerald.

It is interesting to see in today’s world of commercialism and consumerism a local group of people rejecting modern values. The Eco-Warriors based in Kew Bridge Conservation Area are amidst a battle to keep the vacant land they occupy currently. Although there is disagreement over the Kew Bridge location as St George, the developers, are planning to build 164 houses on the land, the eco village will be allowed to live on at least until the New Year. In a meeting this week, Hounslow councillors have postponed making a decision until then.. In terms of public opinion, the developers have won very little support. Local residents have expressed the view that the development is too large and not in keeping with the area. The Eco-Warriors story reminded me of the famous tale ‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley. A minority of people, rejecting contemporary ideas is certainly a theme in the book. Parallels can be drawn between the eco village and the savage reservation. I recently saw an amateur production of ‘Brave New World’ and the atmosphere created during the savage reservation scenes was reminiscent of the atmosphere I experienced when visiting the eco village. I was reminded of this performance because the play highlighted the same concerns that preoccupy these eco villagers and the audience attendance indicated a local interest in the subject.

I was very impressed with this performance from a predominantly young unprofessional drama group. It was performed at Questors in Ealing in March and is no longer showing. ‘Brave New World’ is an extremely complicated piece of literature, and the maturity the cast conveyed in presenting this fascinating tale was excellent. The lighting and stage was interestingly done, the standard of acting was overall very high and although the play occasionally lacked pace, I found it very enjoyable.

Based around a futuristic society, the plot entails a perfect world where everyone is kept happy. Individualism is forbidden but some like Bernard Marx wish to escape this system. Bernard and Lenina Crowne visit a savage reservation where the ‘imperfect’ life continues. He meets John, a savage, and takes him back to his society. John, who has been educated in Shakespeare, hates the ‘perfect’ world and wants everyone to feel emotions and be in touch with the ‘real’ world, similar to the ideas of the eco-warriors. In terms of technical aspects, the play was very strong. The stage was an array of rectangles, all different colours and interesting lighting effects were used to add to the surrealism. This highlighted a contrast between the modern world in the play and the ‘imperfect’ savage world, a similar contrast I saw when visiting the eco village. A particularly enjoyable moment was the savage dance, where the music and the lighting along with the choreography of the dance created a quite brilliant atmosphere. The lack of space used during the performance was perhaps an intentional method of representing a lack of individualism, which again reminded me of the eco-warriors and their disillusion with contemporary life.

It was an amazing effort by the youth theatre and by some members of the cast who had a lot of lines to learn! Good performances by all and overall I’d give it 4/5. In the production the savage reservation survived and although there is no guarantee that Kew eco village will survive beyond the New Year there are other settlements where this alternative lifestyle continues and there probably always will be.