Ashford School performs at Edinburgh Fringe

Published by Ashford School on Tuesday 19th of August 2014

Review of Ashford School's performance at the Edinburgh Fringe

By Head, Mike Buchanan

'Would you like a man who told on his friend? Such men are to be watched; I cannot imagine they are not watched'. (Dalton Trumbo)

On November 25 1947, 10 of the best screenwriters, producers and directors and in Hollywood were blacklisted. Cited for contempt of Congress, their genius and artistry denied, their lives put on hold and the world was poorer for the loss of their insight. But truth and art have a way of breaking out!

Hats off to the cast and production team of our own theatre company 8PB who are spending August performing at the Edinburgh Fringe festival.

This is almost unique among performers of their age and is doubly impressive as they wrote this historical drama themselves. The script is well researched; the setting a claustrophobic and intense sitting-room party on the eve of Dalton Trumbo's appearance at the Committee for un-American Activities. The writing is beautifully authentic 1940s American English and the accents are equally authentic. There are compelling performances by Katie Keet as the emotionally damaged, delicate and resentful wife, by Willis Sullivan as the inept, philandering husband who seeks escape in drink and by Russell Field who is superb in the lead as Dalton Trumbo.