Auto-Da-Fe Review

Submitted by Alex Eades on Sat, 15 Aug '09 1.57am
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Edinburgh Festival review
Rating (out of 5)
3
Show info
Company
Fired Up Productions
Production
Ryan Bourne (Director)
Performers
Jeanne Graham (Mother), Jeff Alan-Lee (Son)
Running time
30mins

Appearances can be deceptive. Something can look so perfect on the outside. Beautiful in every way that you can see. There is no chance, no way, that this could have a fault. Like a pizza behind the counter, it has all the ingredients that you desire and it looks...boy, it looks great.

This is exactly what I thought 5 minutes into Auto-Da-Fe. It is a play by the great Tennessee Williams. The same geezer that gave us A Street Car Named Desire!

The stage looked good, the acting seemed fine and the music that broke open this can of expectation was really my kind of thing. And none of this let up at any point during the show.

But I didn't enjoy it.

Why? Well, this may be a scandalous thing to say and I may receive some hate mail for even suggesting it, but Tennessee William's Auto-Da-Fe just isn't a good play. Yes, I said it! The great T. Williams slipped up and wrote a bit of a stinker with this one.

Set in old New Orleans, a mother and her asthmatic, religiously and sexually obsessive son, sit out on the porch and discuss his unhappiness, disgust and dissatisfaction.

The play starts off okay and the dialogue flows nicely enough, but it just doesn't seem to go anywhere. And where it ends up is just really, really stupid.

The play is only 30 minutes long and it seems like he (Williams) rushed it or didn't even bother to finish it.

This pizza has an incredibly tough base. A beautiful car with no engine.

Times: 7-25 August (except 9, 16 & 23)