In 2004, the Beslan school siege shook the world to its core; 10 years later, a play about it reopened the wound to help heal it better. Here, actress Maria Buckle tells Iggy Fenech about the Shrinking Violets’ adaptation of Us/Them, which is set to be performed in Malta for the first time in October.

It was September 1, 2004, when news stations around the world started reporting that School Number One in Beslan, North Ossetia (an autonomous republic in a region of the Russian Federation) had been taken over by armed militants hailing, mostly, from Ingushetia and Chechnya.

Maria Buckle plays the part of one of the two children caught up in the struggle of the infamous siege. Photo: Emma Micallef

One thousand, one hundred people (including 777 children) had been taken hostage in a pol­itical move that aimed to get Russia to withdraw from Chechnya and recognise the country’s independence. Lasting three days, the Beslan school siege claimed the lives of 334 people, including 186 children and excluding those of the terrorists.

The story reverberated across the world as shock and disbelief were followed by anger. The scale of the tragedy was almost too big and painful to comprehend: Why would children be the target? 

It was with that mindset that, in 2014, Belgian writer Carly Wijs wrote Us/Them, a play that aimed to talk about a subject that is supposed to be impossible for children to understand, but which is often hard for adults to discuss.

Now, the award-winning Us/ Them is coming to Maltese theatre for the first time.

“We started out by looking at the political ties between Russia and Chechnya to learn about the history of the two countries and what would have led to this atrocity – a war that dates back years and years,” Maria, who has been in theatre for almost two decades, tells me.

“Through this research, it quickly became apparent that Chechen families had endured similar tragedies at the hands of the Russians, but we do not necessarily know about that… There are always two sides to every story.

The play... goes through the facts through the eyes of children

“Moreover, at the time when the school was still under siege, it seems that the Russian media was not revealing the true facts of what was actually happening in order to try and tone down the actual gravity of the situation, which makes one wonder, how much do we really know about what goes on?”

The Beslan school siege was one of those rare moments when the whole world came together in mutual solidarity but, years on, the event also raises many questions: How far should one go to get their voice heard? When does the end justify the means? And how does one explain to children what they, or their families, have gone through?

“One can treat it as a historic piece in the sense that the Beslan school siege has definitely left a scar in the history of the world as one of the most horrific events ever endured. I mean, it happened in 2004, but it really does not seem like an alien concept at all nowadays, does it? We still learn about terrorist attacks all over the world. These things are still happening,” Maria continues.

“The focus of this piece, however, is that this act of terrorism is being recounted through the eyes of two children. Tragedy and its implications do not have the same effect on children as they do on adults. This is not to say that they are not affected, but they deal with it in their own way, in ways that they can cope with.”

This, in fact, was one of the biggest challenges for Maria, who, along with co-star Jacob Piccinino, will be playing the part of one of the two children caught up in the struggle of the infamous siege. As an adult, she has to strip herself of all her presuppositions of how she would react in such a situation, and look at it from the eyes of a child: What would affect her? What would she ignore? When would the fear set in?

“Chiara [Hyzler, the director] has allowed us [the actors] to explore and experiment, provided room for discussion, and taken on any suggestions we may have had,” she adds. “When working on a piece like this, there is, inevitably, a lot of trial and error in order to find out what really works.”

The play, which is being brought to Malta by the Shrinking Violets, who last year served us Ernest and the Pale Moon, is not strictly a historical play. Indeed, while it does deal with a moment in history that has affected us all, it gives the event a completely new angle by going through the facts through the eyes of children. Meanwhile, the venue chosen – the Splendid Hotel in Strait Street, Valletta – will make audiences feel like they are in the school with the children themselves.

“What becomes obvious is that the real tragedy in all of this is that the ones who ultimately suffer are the ones who are not in power; the ones who have no say; the ones who are innocent. Fortunately, in Malta, we have not suffered acts of terrorism such as this, but it’s not difficult to see the relevance of the play and how children react to tragedy.”

Us/Them, in fact, does something that goes beyond what happened, or who was to blame, or what the chain of events that led to the violence was. It looks at a tragedy through the emotion felt in the situation, and how such acts change the course of life for those involved. And that is a privilege and a prerogative of informed hindsight, which victims and observers of any such tragedy never get.

Us/Them is on at The Splendid Hotel, Valletta, on Thursday, Friday and next Sunday and between October 11 and 14.