What I liked
The cast is first-rate. Arden Lasalle plays a harried congressional staffer caught behind enemy lines – he commands the stage with his physical humor. Kevin Williams has many of the play’s best lines as a reluctant insurrectionist, at the Capitol merely to please his true-believer wife, played by the blisteringly sharp Rachael Drummond. Although this was only the second performance, the cast seemed at ease, its timing perfect.
What I didn't like
Nothing
My overall impression
Brilliant! Perhaps the fastest hour in theatre nowadays – crisp, searing dialogue, a cast that clearly loves the work, and a subject that is top-of-mind.
It took 20 years for “Springtime for Hitler” to satirize WWII, 30 years for Sondeim’s “Assassins” to satirize JFK’s murder, and the Vietnam War was still too fresh for M*A*S*H, which was nominally about the Korean War. But TOURRORISTS EXPLODES onto the stage barely 17 months after the January 6th insurrection, with a well-researched script that delivers a message as breezily as it delivers humor and pathos.
A standing ovation for the cast, playwright and director was well-deserved. I hope TOURRORISTS finds life after Fringe. It (and we) deserve it!
