The Extremists is dazzling. For 75 minutes, a pair of actors delivers an anarchic script at incredible pace, in the process forcing their audience to reconsider the framework of western democracy as practiced in the Land of the Free.
The initial premise is that we are watching a TV talk show for intellectuals on which interviewer Carol Scudder’s Jane welcomes David Calvitto as Normal Krieger, the chilling author of a book on extremism in the 21st Century.
It doesn’t take long for his conservative views to pile out, accompanied by deliberately excessive gesturing soon picked up by his host.
This anarchic play, directed with brio and precision by John Clancy, then moves on to present its own extreme views on politics, philosophy and the nature of theatre.
The pacing is such that the actors do well to keep up and some of the ideas flash by never to be seen again but overall, this is an unforgettable experience. One hopes that the script will be published so that viewers can chew over the ideas at greater leisure, having relished them in the theatre.