Religion, art, class and patriotism clash in Pity In History, a riveting drama by iconoclast writer Howard Barker (No End of Blame, Scenes from an Execution). First produced as a teleplay by the BBC in 1985, Pity In History updates Britain’s 17th century Civil War to present day in a sexy, brazen and remarkably funny examination of a society rife with competing ideologies.

In Pity in History, Howard Barker posits that history is a continual work-in-progress. A political satire with the feel of a parable, the play documents the travails of Gaukroger, an English mason in a time of Civil War. Under normal circumstances, the war would be a windfall for the stone-cutting profession, but as we soon learn, the nature of the Cromwellite rebellion and the movement’s rejection of idols extends to monuments for the dead. Even if history, as Barker presents it, works in cycles of destruction and rebuilding, Gaukroger has some poor timing–maybe there’s the pity. This world premiere production, directed by Potomac Theatre Project (PTP/NYC) co-Artistic Director, Richard Romagnoli, transplants the text, originally produced as a 1985 BBC teleplay, into a modern-feeling ethos. Gaukroger (an affecting and funny turn by Steven Dykes), his apprentice, Pool (the excellent Matt Ball), and a unit of soldiers that take up residence in a cathedral play in Mark Evancho’s set, decked out with contemporary metal furniture, canvas drop-cloth and patina-colored banners that, lit by Hallie Zieselman, reveal the outline of an apse. PTP/NYC’s cast of Middlebury College students and …Read more