The Craig - Audience Reviews of the 2012 Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival

I saw the Friday night show, which, even though it was late, was well attended. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the show was very well done. The first half, about a real-life incident in which Mussolini took over the controls of Adolf Hitler's plane as the two flew over Russia, is both thought-provoking and funny. I read an interview with the authors before I went, and so was looking for the references fo Bertolt Brecht and Chaplin, which were very cleverly worked into the script. John Green attacked the challenge of playing Hitler with gusto, not holding back. Green goes for truth in his portrayal, which manages to show a human being, as opposed to a cartoon character, while refusing to give in to the temptation of "humanizing" the dictator with any "sympathetic" dialogue or action.

I was pleased to see that the second half was equally well written (the two writers split the show and each wrote their own half). Graham Roebuck, who wrote this half and plays Charles Dickens, was spot on in his portrayal of the nineteenth-century icon, giving him realism, humor and an appropriate amount of self-satisfaction. Brian Wrigley's Hans Christian Andersen has to be seen to be believed. Don't want to spoil it--just see it for yourself.