Money talks. Or at least that's the case judging by the foyer-full of
French economists packed into a small studio theatre ticked off a
bustling shopping street in Bordeaux city centre. The economists are
coming to the end of a week-long conference at the nearby university,
and clearly have plenty to say about it all. In what looks suspiciously
like an end of term treat, they're gathered to watch a performance of
Adam Smith, Le Grand Tour, a new play written and performed by Vanessa
Oltra with fellow actor Frederic Kneip.
The production, by Compagnie Les Labyrinthes, which arrives at the
French Institute this week for an Edinburgh Festival Fringe run, charts
the journey of Mary and Fred Smith, who travel to Edinburgh in search
of the real Adam Smith, the Kirkcaldy-born moral philosopher and
seminal author of his 1776 tome, An Inquiry into the nature and causes
of the Wealth of Nations. More often shortened to the catchier Wealth
of Nations, this book is regarded as the first modern work of economics
as we now know them.
For director Gerard David's multi-media production of this wryly
clever hour-long show, Oltra and Kneip travelled to Edinburgh in a real
life quest, and film of them at Canongate Kirkyard, where Smith is
buried, and other locations appears throughout the piece. For Oltra,
who herself holds a PhD in Economics, and divides her time between
acting and lecturing at Bordeaux University, Adam Smith, Le Grand Tour
is clearly a labour of love that reflects her own fascination with
Smith.
“Several years ago I had this idea to try to write a play about the
authors who are supposed to be the founding fathers of liberalism,”
Oltra says of her play's origins, “and at first I wanted to look at
several different authors. That turned out to be not such a good idea,
but I didn't want to make an academic play, so I decided to choose Adam
Smith, mainly because he's supposed to be the founding father of a lot
of things. That's according to academics, and I wanted to know why.
“I read several different biographies, and became interested in his
personal life. He was quite a strange man, and two things interested
me. The first thing was that, although he was named as the founding
father of so much, of capitalism and everything else, yet in his own
life, he never had children. This point touched me a lot. In symbolic
terms, it was a very strong image.
“Then I researched how Smith was commemorated in Scotland, and I was
fascinated by the story of the statue of Smith in Edinburgh, which only
went up as recently as 2008.”
Oltra is referring to Sandy Stoddart's statue, erected on the High
Street, and paid for by private donations arranged by the Adam Smith
Institute in London.
“I was very interested in this story,” Oltra says, “again, in symbolic
terms, that it went up just as the world entered into its financial
crisis. There is also the story of Smith's grave. I read a story by
someone who went to visit his grave, but the gates are padlocked, and
you can't get in.”
All of these elements have been put into what is a very personal
impressionistic collage that praises Smith even as it questions how his
legacy has been claimed by many for their own political purposes.
Former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was even reputed to have
carried a copy of wealth of Nations around with her.
“People use Smith to try to explain everything,” Oltra points out, “but
for me he has nothing to do with that. He was a philosopher. He never
used the word capitalism in his work. You can't find the word in any of
his books, and you can't find anything about globalisation, but people
keep citing him as being the founding father of everything. He was very
cautious. Although he talked about what became known as a free market
economy, he also gave a warning, and said that if we're not careful,
people will only be interested in making a profit.”
Oltra's specific interest in Smith stems from a set of interests she
shares with her subject.
“It came out of a combination of my interest in economic thought and
theatre,” she says. “Smith was a theatre lover, and I was always
involved in both worlds as well.”
So much so, it seems, that when she began lecturing in Bordeaux, Oltra
also enrolled in a theatre course. Since then, she has successfully in
both pursuits. The character of Mary Smith in Adam Smith, Le Grand
Voyage is clearly an extension of herself, and Oltra is happy to admit
that “Ninety per cent of it is my story as well.”
After the show in Bordeaux, Oltra, Kneip and David took part in a
discussion with the economists who made up their audience. This was no
usual after-show talk, however, as, rather than issues about the play's
construction and how it was presented, questions thrown at Oltra in
particular challenged her critiques of how Smith is sometimes
perceived. A former lecturer of Oltra's even went so far as to ask her
why she was increasingly critical of how economics is taught, and if
she applies it to her own teaching.
“We have a certain degree of freedom,” she says, diplomatically, “but
you also have to respect certain things. I try to do things
differently, but there has to be a balance.”
Given her very personal views of Smith, what, one wonders, does Oltra
think that Smith's real legacy is?
“For me,” she says, “the most important contribution was his Theory of
Moral Sentiment, which he wrote seventeen years before Wealth of
Nations. He described human nature so precisely, and we can learn so
much from that about things, much more than we can from Wealth of
Nations.”
Adam Smith, Le Grand Tour, French Institute until August 25th, 3pm.
www.adamsmithlegrandtour.com
The Herald, August 6th 2013
ends
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