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Fringe 2006 Reviews (21)
Terre Haute
By Edmund White
Assembly Rooms
****
Terre Haute is a tightly-scripted, compelling drama about this
year's favourite subject, terrorism. The difference is that despite
the CIA's efforts to prove otherwise, the perpetrator was a lone American
with no affiliations to any subversive organisation, either at home
or further east.
The two-hander sees orange-jumpsuited, young Harrison (Arthur Darvill
making an impressive professional stage debut) appearing in a cage to
meet veteran Peter Eyre as fading writer James who has come to interview
him.
These are extremely thinly veiled disguises. Harrison's bombing took
place in Oklahoma City in April 1995 and therefore he must be Timothy
McVeigh, while his penpal, "the most prolific writer of my generation"
specialising in historical novels, has to be Gore Vidal.
Their meeting is fascinating because, despite the ex-marine mass murderer's
extreme and often misguided views, he is clearly intelligent with "a
highly original mind".
For a little over an hour the old man interviews the younger, teasing
out his history and views on life, eventually asking the critical question
as to how and why he chose to set off a massive bomb that killed 168
men, women and children.
Edmund White's script, well directed by George Perrin, also reveals
a surprising amount about the life and methodology of the writer and
this gives a balance and authenticity.
Terre Haute is recommended as one of the Fringe's most thoughtful
plays with masterful acting from the veteran and a passionate effort
from his tyro colleague.
Philip Fisher
Marlon Brando's Corset
By Guy Jones
Ed Curtis Associates Ltd.
Pleasance Grand
**(*)
True to the spirit of this script's message, I should simply say, 'I
have better things to do with the one life I have to live than discuss
why this was a wholly uninspiring theatrical non-event.' Sadly (for
me), that is not how I earn my free tickets to many a Fringe gig.
Therefore, I will expand my critique of Marlon Brando's Corset
by saying it relies on the selling power of the very celebrities it
strives to condemn, and if it weren't for Mike McShane and Les Dennis'
ability to command the attention of an audience, this would be a truly
pathetic attempt at making a statement about how we should all have
better things to do than care about Big Brother and the modern-day cult
of celebrity. As it is, it's only the presence of these stars that makes
this show worth the price of a ticket. Which, for a work supposedly
condemning this kind of reasoning, is a pretty unfortunate state of
affairs.
Rachel Lynn Brody
Excitable
Steve Williams
Edinburgh Comedy Club
***
Steve Williams is a likeable comic from South Wales whose set seems
designed to cover as many themes as he can fit into an hour.
This is both a strength and a weakness. At the performance under review,
he had a far from responsive Sunday night audience and the methodology
allowed him to drift around until he finally got a grip on their collective
funny bone.
It took a little time for him to build confidence and them to relax.
Then, the laughs started coming thick and fast.
No theme was ever established other than the general area of life today
including obvious targets such as global warming, bigots and overweight
people.
The funniest moments came at the oddest points, especially when, at
the prompting of a table of guests in the low-ceilinged basement under
the Tron, he slid into a joke in French and then considered the relationships
of the British and French. Close behind was a very visual story about
an old lady in an invalid car.
Steve Williams acquitted himself well enough in tricky circumstances.
It would be good to hear him really getting into his stride with a livelier
(and drunker) house.
Philip Fisher
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