Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog

These tribunal’ plays used to be looking back from a distance after an inquiry was over, but when it came to the Grenfell Inquiry, it seemed too urgent, so the first part was staged late in 2021 whilst it was still in progress and now this second part just four months after the inquiry ended but before it reports. My emotions after Part One (https://garethjames.uk/2021/11/08/value-engineering-scenes-from-the-grenfell-inquiry) included disbelief and anger. Though these were still prevalent, an over-riding sadness overwhelmed me. This part of the inquiry focused on the testimony of the families and communities of the victims and survivors together with the responses of the technical experts and the authorities.

Seeing a dramatisation of extracts from an inquiry like this is a very different experience to reading about it or watching a news item concerning it. Most people wouldn’t concentrate on two hours of evidence and testimony and only those in the room would see the facial expressions and body language which is as important as the words. The grief and pain of the families as they describe the contrast between the warmth and empathy of the community and the clinical coldness of officials and experts is deeply moving. The implications of racism and suggestions that those lives mattered less is chilling.

It left me wondering how much more outrage there would be if it was a block of owner-occupier flats. The lack of sincere regret and remorse of most of those whose jobs exist to protect us from such tragedies is shattering. No other form of communication can convey all of this in a way which illuminates, enlightens and educates. I know there’s an extent to which it’s preaching to the converted but if only a handful discuss it with their friends and do something, however small, to press for change it will be an achievement in itself.

I urge you to catch the last few days of this important and urgent piece of documentary theatre.