Edinburgh 2002

Fringe

Kassandra
The Smirnoff Underbelly

Andrew Chippindale

Very clever, but what's it for?

In many ways this revival of Ivo Stourton's five-star Scotsman reviewed show from 2000 should feel timely and relevant. Set nominally in the Vietnam war, but with enough allusions to other wars to make it clear that this is a play which is dealing with War In General, this depiction of the listless brutality committed by Americans abroad could easily resonate now with the ongoing 'war on terror' and the upcoming invasion of Iraq. So why does this play feel so distant?

Part of the trouble is that the play is written in iambic pentameter and makes heavy borrowings from Shakespeare's Henry VI. This is fine in itself, but there is no reason for it. Neither the Wars of the Roses nor the Vietnam war are really used to throw any light on the another. In fact the imposition confuses matters by taking the civil strife of the Yorkists and the Lancastrians and recasting them as rival platoons within the greater conflict of the Vietnam war.

Factor in some very Anthony and Cleopatra stuff about York sleeping with one of the enemy -a Vietnamese prostitute called Kassandra (for no easily discernable reason since she is believed-but-lying throughout)- and the plot of the play amounts to a lot of soldiers bitching at one another with occasional running around to the sound of loud recorded gunfire. There is the distinct feeling that the idea that there is a war at all has been thrown in simply to provide a backdrop complete with a plausible availability of guns.

The production itself is perfectly well staged with some very buff squadies (all inexplicably wearing British/Nato fatigues) looking for all the world like they'd been transported from the stage of a mid-80s, modern-dress, RSC production. But, perhaps because the dense language of the text denies opportunities for a through-line or character development, the acting falls back on making it seem even more Shakespearean by shouting.

Ultimately, what might have first seemed a forgivably impressive piece of precocity when it was first staged now demonstrates its lack of any sort of a worldview and reliance on a few well worn 'universal truths' as a substitute for inquiry. There is much that is impressive about the initial achievement but this is scant substitute for substance.

Until 28 August: 14.45 (1hr 30mins)

Kassandra has been pencilled in for discussion at the Institute of Ideas' Round Table Rumbles event on Saturday 10 August, when the theme is The Theatre of War.