True Sons
C central, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Group: Debacle Theatre Company

Natasha Hullugale

True Sons is a suitably sombre interpretation of the classical Greek tragedy Electra. Although it is never made explicit, this version seems to be set amid the troubles in Northern Ireland.

In the classic tragedy Orestes, murders his mother Queen Clytemnestra as an act of vengeance for his years in exile. True Sons has haunted mother Cait revisited by the sinister Frank to remind her of their shared traumatic past. It emerges that her husband and estranged son Ged are affiliated, along with Frank, to some paramilitary cause. Cait's daughter, we discover, was also sacrificed to the cause and killed in an explosion while her husband died in prison. Now, with her other daughters, she has tried to erase the past. Frank and Ged have returned to deal out their version of justice and punish Cait for her betrayal.

It has to be said that the story is not at all easy to follow, even with a knowledge of Electra. The mood never lifts and is at times unbearable in its oppressive gloom. Troubled teen Lizzie, who is plagued by nightmares of a past that she cannot quite remember, represents Electra. Pieced together, her behaviour and the behaviour of those around her make some sense, but their stories don't come together as a collective experience. There is much dialogue about 'having vengeance', 'learning to forget', ' justice for the past' etc, but frustratingly little explanation.

The acting overall was strong, though all involved could be accused of an occasional mannered approach. Triche Kehoe, who wrote, directed and played the part of Cait, should be admired, however, as by mixing this material she set herself a tricky challenge.

10 August to 16 August.

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