RAPPORT FRINGE ... MARGINAAL VERSLAG ... FRINGE BERICHT
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Guantanamo Baywatch
Verdict: Devastating prisoner-abuse musical comedy
Guantanamo Baywatch excoriates America for its disgusting treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. It's excellence in political writing - without preaching, because the lethal barbs spring from a very funny script. There's help too from Cole Porter - and some from Roy Rogers (but not Trigger). There's a cast of 13 (11M, 2F), one act, running time around 1hr 45min.
Guantanamo Bay is being given a caring makeover as a happy holiday resort. The Blairs and Bushes are invited. All hell breaks loose.
Cherry Blear (Jacqueline Wood) is taken to Guantanamo Bay for a 50th birthday surprise holiday by husband British PM Tony (Alasdair Craig). They're joined by US President Dubya (Dean Kelly), wife Laura (Barbara Hastings), an almost naked Arnold Schwartzenegger (Matthew Dominic), and suited, saturnine Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld (Rupert Mason). Servant Norman Stephen Guy Daltry attends them.
Sadistic American pederast, Camp Commandant Hank Spanker Jamie Bower sexually abuses and humiliates a trio of chained Muslim prisoners. His junior officer Captain Clem Pecker (Jonah Russell) attempts some humanity.
The Muslim detainees are Abdullah (Russell Boulter), Mustapha (Harry Napier) and a third (Stephen Chance). Externally - to the guards - they speak fractured caricature English. Internally - to each other, Abdullah is a sharp Liverpudlian, Mustapha's Welsh, and the third is a Biggles public-school character, full of gung-ho in a Rank Studios prisoner-of-war movie way. They form - with one crucial addition - both the comic and horrific engine of the play.
And she's Yasmina The Cleaner (Gemma Larke). British citizen and three-quarters of many other nationalities, Yasmina the demure civil servant keeps dynamite strapped seductively to her lower areas. And she has a plan.
There's a sharp plot to the play, fed by Laura Dubya's transformation into Alice, reporter for Wonderland TV. Nothing's what it seems - but that's just the reality. Justin Butcher uses material straight from the news - including the horrific pile of naked prisoners from the Lindi England trial to create spectacular comedy with a sharp inrush of breath. The gap between laughter and a feeling of obligation to cry in horror is mica-thin.
There are love-scenes between Arnie and Cherry; between George and Tony. There's stunning use of Noel Coward's 20th Century Blues - itself an anti-war song about World War 1; the musical Cabaret - the high point of the play and a sensational performance from Gemma Larke - and material from Shakespeare that the Bard's devotees will be able to identify with meaningful nods. There's Cole Porter, altered, unaltered, and revelatory - who'd have suspected him of writing a cowboy ballad?
His 'Don't Fence Me In' was recorded by Roy Rogers (posthumously denied his wish to be stuffed and mounted on Trigger) and became an American anthem of freedom. Here it's used to ridicule PM Ariel Sharon's fence across Palestine. It climaxes a sketch featuring Mr Sharon (Russell Boulter), President Arafat (Stephen Chance), the state of Israel (Gemma Larke), and the Wall (Harry Napier) - an extraordinary piece of satirical writing.
The script is a remarkable feat. Its language is precise, honed down, nothing slack. Guantanamo Baywatch is the third play of The Dubya Trilogy (Justin Butcher received FR Award 04 - Best Political Dramatist for The Madness of George Dubya, and A Weapons Inspector Called). It's as if his writing, already incredibly sharp on the other two plays, has lifted to a higher plane. He writes here to a truly astounding standard.
There are fine and often extremely funny performances from the trilogy cast - the three plays rotate in this season.
Russell Boulter, Stephen Chance, Harry Napier bring delight - and tears of distress in its wake - as the prisoners appallingly abused. As Mel Brookes has pointed out (about The Producers / Springtime For Hitler), monstrosity is most effectively attacked by comedy - and they invoke it. But there are sudden visual puns, for example on the Crucifixion, which choke laughter in the throat
Gemma Larke is a continual delight as effervescent Yasmina - given here (she's also in The Madness of George Dubya with her keynote song 'Yasmina The Cleaner - She's A Very Nice Girl') a major part that showcases Gemma Larke's remarkable talent.
Jamie Bower is powerful and chilling as demented Hank Spanker. He and Jonah Russell form a fine double act. Jonah Russell delivers a touching characterisation of Captain Clem Pecker. Representing those, perhaps few in reality, troubled by conscience, his portrayal brings some warmth to a bleak landscape.
Alasdair Craig is an often convincing Tony Blear, not here with a major part - many of the characters travel through the trilogy and Blear's role is larger in eg A Weapons Inspector Calls. Stephen Guy Daltry delights as Norman, ostensibly a human civil servant, with a definite flavouring of pixie.
Matthew Dominic shows off a sharp edge in comedy acting - and a magnificent body to the delight of women in the audience - in g-string, pig's ears and curly tail, as naughty Arnie Schwartzenegger and camera operator for Wonderland TV. Dean Kelly delivers a strong performance as Dubya - no fool. Justin Butcher writes a set of sharp speeches for the character which Dean Kelly delivers - eg in a fantastical press conference - with conviction and élan.
Barbara Hastings delights as Laura Dubya, transformed to Alice in Wonderland. There's a warmth and beguiling femininity she infuses into each interpretation of the part (A Weapons Inspector Calls, and this play) which make the character far more effective than, for example, an interpretation based on satire alone. Her Laura and Alice have depth - and some humanity. Her singing is a poignant enchantment
Jacqueline Wood, having taken the character of Cherry Blear to her bosom in the earlier plays, here, as it were, picks her up and runs with her. It's a stunning performance, with Justin Butcher interlocking his writing with what he evidently knows this fine artist of an actor can bring to dramatic life. The characterisation is very clever - a Cherry who blurts out Human Rights legislation and tells the truth among the others' obfuscation. Her alter-ego as the Cheshire (Cherry) Cat is just fabulous - very funny, very sharp acting.
But - come on - the whole trilogy is worth seeing simply for the sheer joy of the remarkable Rupert Mason as Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld. One of Rupert Mason's many startling abilities as an actor is to turn a character written as the Prince of Darkness into rather a delightful chap. Key to this is his Donald Rumsfeld's relaxed acceptance of being evil personified. Of all the fine performances, if there's a best, Rupert Mason's Rumsfeld is the one. He may be a devil, but he's a devil-may-care. And frankly my dear, he doesn't give a damn.
