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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Persae
Verdict: The war against Iraq
Edinburgh 06 - Underbelly - 6-27 August 06 - 15:55 (1:00)
There's newsreel of the war against Iraq to loud rock music. The images are disturbing and unsettling. They rewind as news anchors position themselves onstage. They report, producing a cacophony.
The wife of an ex-president - and mother of the present one - is to appear on a show called Good Morning America. It's a pr move to amplify patriotic zeal among Americans. Things go wildly wrong as the 'mother of the nation' horrifies her security aides by telling her dreams.
Are they prophetic, the nightmares of a worried mother - or has she gone mad? Hero, a 'war hero', is ambiguous. The disfigurements to his face and hands are nothing to the disfigurement of his mind. Was it the war's brutality that made him a hero, or his own?
There is a haunting scene involving two Iraqi women. Their family has been ripped open by the death of one's husband and the other's 3-year-old child. They are forced to remove their headdresses. When they try to cover their head with their hands, Hero (before his injuries) deals with them horrifically. The destruction of a mosque has world-shattering consequences.
Persae is based on the classical play The Persians. Putting Barbara Bush as Atossa, a mother whose son is out in the field, may be intented to evoke the idea that everyone involved in the war against Iraq is a mothers son or daughter. The play makes the point that democracy to the West may be a dictatorship to those caught in the middle.
Cast Credits: (alpha order): Charlie Dupre Hero in Iraq. Alex Eisenberg Security Aide. Maia Gibb Security Aide. Chris McDonald Security Aide. Henry Proffit Hero in Wheelchair. Georgina Strawson Mel Howard. Elly Yates Atossa / Barbara Bush. Other cast details requested from company.
Company Credits: Writer - Van Badham. Director - Sam Grafton. Lights Megan Allyse. Stage Design - Alastair Coe. Costumes - Lian Wallington. Projection - Alastair Coe. Producer - Emily Medhurst. Company - New Theatre Company.
END
(c) Lea Harris 2006
reviewed 21 August 06 / Underbelly
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
