Generation 9/11 So Far/So Close Review

Submitted by Alex Eades on Tue, 9 Aug '11 8.51pm
Image
Edinburgh Festival review
Rating (out of 5)
3
Show info
Company
OJP
Production
Chris Wolfe (Writer & Producer), Catherine Ming T'ien Duffly (Director)
Performers
Chris Wolfe
Running time
60mins

I think we can all remember where we were and what we were doing when the planes flew in on September 11th, 2001. I remember I was in a coffee house with a friend, admiring the castle and the busy street below, when my phone buzzed. It was my Dad. “Get yourself to a television. New York is a warzone”.

We walked to a bar just around the corner still not knowing exactly what was going on, but intrigued and quietly excited.  Then, in a moment, the whole world suddenly seemed so surreal. The united disbelief. The united horror. The planes flying in. The people falling down.

As we approach the tenth anniversary of that day, Generation 9/11 seemed like a fitting show to experience. Yes, there’s usually at least one 9/11 show on every year here at the Fringe and I tend to avoid them for various reasons. But with Bin Laden now gone and al-Qaida weakened, I was curious to see what, if anything, had to be said.

Chris Wolfe performs a variety of different people during the hour taking us from that day, through the Iraq war and Afghanistan, to the present day. We see the effects on soldiers, the wives of soldiers, Muslim mothers and daughters, and a younger generation growing up in the smoky shadows of former towers. Generation 9/11.

If you come to this show expecting to find any new answers, or new questions for that matter, you’re not going to find them here. It’s not really that kind of piece, as maybe I kind of wished it was. Emotionally and thoughtfully, it doesn’t really take us anywhere undiscovered or unexpected. It does, as many before it, assume we need things explained to us.

That said, it was nice to see something that wasn’t designed as self therapy or shameless flag waving.

Chris Wolfe is a very charming and talented performer,  bringing humour and life to a subject you would expect to find neither. For that he must be applauded and, for that alone, I would recommend you consider this one as a pre lunch watch. Just don’t expect anything new.

Show times: 5th - 20th 13:05; 22nd - 27th, 14:05 Surgeons Hall

Ticket Prices: £6-£7