GRENFELL: SYSTEM FAILURE: Scenes from the Inquiry (Modern Plays)

Product Information

This verbatim recreation of the inquiry into the Grenfell disaster has a political pertinence that transcends the realm of entertainment" Criticisms could be made: at times it would be difficult to follow the exact significance of what is being discussed without pre-existing knowledge and there are inevitably things left out, such as the extraordinary testimony of former employees of insulation firm Celotex. Your support changes lives. Find out how you can help us help more people by signing up for a subscription The bereaved and survivors have argued the government’s stance was driven by a pro-business deregulation agenda and have asked for David Cameron to be called to give evidence after he gave a speech in 2012 that promised to “ kill off the health and safety culture for good”. And – just before the interval – after the audience heard the story of the life and death of Mohamed “Saber” Neda, I turned to see the two women sitting behind me openly sobbing.

Playing Richard Millet QC as the Lead Counsel is Olivier-nominee Ron Cook. Ron is also joined by Derek Elroy (Leslie Thomas QC), Sally Giles (Kate Grange QC), Nicholas Chambers (Adrian Pargeter), Sophie Duval (Sarah Colwell), Tanveer Ghani (Imran Khan), and Shahzad Ali (Hisam Chouchair). It’s almost six years since fire engulfed Grenfell Tower in West London, killing 72 people. But in spotlighting the level of outrageous arrogance, dismissiveness and callousness that characterised the real world inquiry, this play gives an outlet for fury that has continued to simmer. We now have to put our faith into a justice system that protects the powerful – a system that prevents justice,” the families group said. “While this system exists, we face the same unachievable battle as the many before us. From Aberfan, to Hillsborough, justice has been denied, and Grenfell is no different.” On Tuesday, counsel for the DLUHC, Jason Beer QC, said: “The department is deeply sorry for its past failures in relation to its oversight of the system that regulated safety in the construction and refurbishment of high-rise buildings. It also deeply regrets past failures in relation to the superintendence of the building control bodies.”

The second part of this verbatim theatre work based on the transcripts of the Grenfell Inquiry starts with a trigger warning. The audience is told that some of the evidence is so disturbing that it will be flagged in advance so that people can leave the auditorium if they choose. When we get the warning, just before the interval, no one does. Kent said: “During the run of the previous play in October 2021, there was much pressure from the Grenfell community and audiences for us to complete the story of the final phase of the Grenfell Tower inquiry. This second play focuses on the vital questions of how the cladding/insulation manufacturers, the London fire brigade, government regulators and politicians could have averted this terrible fire, and how they failed the local community in the chaos of its aftermath.” In their postscript to the play text, Richard Norton Taylor and Nicolas Kent point out that, “the government failed to implement any of the major recommendations made by the Inquiry after its first phase in 2019, including providing communal fire alarms in high-rise buildings and evacuation plans for the disabled. The Home Office in May 2022 said this would not ‘be proportionate.’" This limited season is brought to the stage by the creative team responsible for Grenfell: Value Engineering at The Tabernacle and Birmingham Rep in 2021 and on Channel 4 in 2022, The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry – The Colour of Justice at the Tricycle Theatre, the National Theatre, in the West End and on BBC TV, and the Olivier Award-winning Saville Inquiry play , Bloody Sunday.

The man further up the line at the BRE was “the lead consultant… on matters related to fire safety.” He was also seconded to a government department 50% of the time, becoming the person giving government policy advice on building regulations. At the performance I attended, an audience member shouted out “Jesus Christ” on seeing staff at insulation manufacturer Kingspan write “all we do is lie in here” in relation to a particular fire test. He conceded: “Had there been a functional enforcement system … non-compliance [with the building regulations] to the extent that gave rise to the Grenfell Tower tragedy may not have been possible.” Questioning is led by Richard Millett, counsel to the inquiry. Ron Cook, a terrier of an actor, gets his teeth into squirming and stonewalling witnesses, quoting damning group chats (“all we do is lie in here”) or insisting that “science was secretly perverted for financial gain”. Regulators, research bodies, government – all swerve apology or responsibility until pressed. This raises the question of how to respond to Medea, who kills her children when betrayed by her husband. I think it impossible to make this explicable by argument. A programme note compares other more recent female revenges. But cutting up your husband’s shirts is not much of a comparison. Not only because Medea’s violence hurt people. Not only because those people were children. But because Medea simultaneously wounded herself. The success of the play depends on general plausibility being swamped by the strength of theatrical feeling.

Do you have a news story to submit?

He has collaborated with Nicolas Kent on eight verbatim plays on Trials and Public Inquiries: Half the Picture -the Scott Arms to Iraq Inquiry, The Colour of Justice -the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, Nuremberg, Justifying War - The Hutton Inquiry. All his theatre work has been published; much of it broadcast on BBC TV or Radio. He won a Time Out award in 1993 and an Olivier award in 2005. Beer conceded that the introduction of competition into building control, whereby private companies were allowed to sign off buildings as safe starting under Margaret Thatcher in 1985 and expanding since, increased the risk of “systemic failure”. Based entirely on the words of those involved in the final phase of the Inquiry (December 2020 – July 2022), this new play interrogates why the testing regime failed to warn of the danger of installing inflammable materials, why manufacturers promoted such products with no regard to safety, why government regulations ignored the dangers and were not updated, and why politicians failed to ensure proper oversight. Through the testimonies of bereaved residents, it explores how they were failed by the London Fire Brigade on the night and abandoned by the Local Authority in the chaos of the fire’s aftermath. After four years, 320,000 documents, and 1600 witness statements, the hearings have concluded and the final report is due later this year. Hopefully some heads will roll, but in the meantime anyone trying to understand the impact of the rush to de-regulate on ordinary lives should pay attention to this play and the lessons of Grenfell.