This story of the slow radicalisation of 'white van man' Billy is the latest production from political theatre company Take Back Theatre, set up by actor Julie Hesmondhalgh, writer Becx Harrison and visual artist Grant Archer "as an artistic response to the politics of austerity", which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
The dragon of the title is the one supposedly slain by St George, whose flag is displayed on the dashboard of Billy's (Simon Naylor) van. This was fine when he had his own business and was his own boss, but now he drives for a larger firm, he is told it is against company policy to display any kind of insignia on the vehicle. At first he agrees. but his father (James Quinn) says he should take a stand, while his Polish wife (Olivia Sweeney) doesn't see what the problem is in removing it, especially as he is still in his probationary period and they have bills to pay.
But his father has fallen under the spell of Stevie Smith (George Miller)—not the poet, but an online influencer who makes videos telling stories of St George as extremist right-wing allegories, and the ethnicity of Billy's boss Ali (Shaban Dar), who has been his friend since they were at school together, suddenly is raised as an issue for the first time. Billy insists he is not "one of them", but as he digs deeper and deeper holes for himself, he starts using the language of the extreme right and doesn't have the nerve to take it back, though he says he wants to, especially when his comments abruptly end his meeting with a British Asian employee of the Job Centre (Chiara Dev Galli) about obtaining benefits.
Harrison herself, while she says she is not an actor, introduces the play and watches from an armchair, throwing in comments between scenes, usually starting with, "when I was writing this play...". These contextualise some of the events and views expressed in the play, or expand on her thinking around some of the issues.
The structure owes a lot to Brecht: each scene has a title projected on the deconstructed white van panels used as a backdrop (set and 'visuals' by Grant Archer); actors speak to the audience as themselves before dropping into character; songs form breaks between scenes rather than being part of them; some scenes are entirely described in the third person by an actor who doesn't play any of the characters mentioned.
However, there is a lot about the setting that is kept deliberately vague. We are told several times that this is not our town. What exactly Stevie Smith is asking his followers to believe or do and how his fairytales rouse them to do it is left unstated. There are occasional references to an important vote, with a countdown to when it is to happen to build up the suspense, but we are never told what it is for, and when it ends up being called off, it rather fizzles out of the story. This is all to try to make it more universal than specific, but there is a danger if taken too far that it won't feel relevant to anyone.
The ending is not a happy one for anyone (except perhaps for Smith—we never find out) and is fairly bleak in its message. The final scene is followed by a lengthy speech from Harrison that expresses her frustration with various problems around the world rather than being aimed specifically at the issues in the story, but the screen titles this part "A Call for Unity", so that is what brings the problems she describes together: that people need to talk to each other, even if they don't agree.
This issue of people offering easy solutions to those who feel society has left them behind, telling them it is not their fault and some other less deserving group is being treated better than them, is as relevant now as it was in Brecht's Germany, and this story of how one well-meaning man gets gradually dragged into this hate-filled world—and the tragic event at the end—is, sadly, very up-to-date.
The direct audience address works as a distancing technique, but sometimes over-explains or describes events that may have been more interesting if they'd been staged, which can make it feel a little drawn out at times.
But this is a story that needs telling at this time, and it is told with intelligence and insight—and it's great to see good Brechtian theatre on relevant subjects here on the Manchester fringe.