My overall impression
Bill Oberst Jr is fantastic. Let’s just get that out of the way. It’s a one man show and he’s the man. And he’s huge. Such a great performance.
To say “And the the material is Ray Bradbury” is underselling the weight of what’s going on here. This is Ray Bradbury at his early best. You can see so much of his future stories in this piece. Poe, Lovecraft, fire, autumn, a seemingly absurd premise played out to its logical and most human conclusion. Censorship. Persecution. Technological neo-puritanism. It’s all there. And in Oberst’s skillful hands, it just flows.
There are no real highlights. The whole thing is a highlight. Here’s how you know. The lights went out and I was sorry it was over. In fact, with 2000 shows to see, I’ll probably see this one again.
Pillars of Fire doesn’t have many performances and not a lot of people are talking about it. It’s not a “fringy” piece in the nutty premise, crazy execution, interesting take sense.
It’s just a great piece of living, breathing art that you probably won’t see anywhere else.
So, if you want to balance your Fringe dance card with some serious kick ass, this is the show.
And now that I’ve written about it, I’m sure. I am gonna see it again.
