Last year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival was marred by loud, angry protests against any show perceived to have an Israeli connection. Led by pro-Palestinian leftists, the demonstrations forced the closure of numerous productions deemed to be political incorrect. Today amends are being made.
Daniel Cainer, a Jewish (but not Israeli) comic whose 2014 show was shut down by the anti-Semitic mob, has been invited back to perform his new solo show, 21st Century Jew, at the 2015 Fringe. In it Cainer manages to poke fun at last year's boycott and to laugh at the bigots behind it, especially those who raised the Palestinian flag over the Scottish Parliament.
The 2015 Fringe has also mounted another response to the 2014 controversy: Walking the Tightrope: The Tension Between Art and Politics. The bill of eight short plays by such writers as Caryl Churchill, Ryan Craig, Neil LaBute, and Timberlake Wertenbaker tackled the theme of freedom of expression in a variety of ways, some serious, some satirical. In Exhibit A (by LaBute), an actor (Syrus Lowe) thanks the audience for "supporting my art" in this "sacred place . . . the theater." He then drags on stage a drugged girl and drapes her over a table where, while blithely babbling about his artistic right to freely express himself, proceeds to sodomize Exhibit A (Melissa Woodbridge). When he's done he smiles at everyone and thanks them for sharing "this opening with me."
Walking the Tightrope goes from dark to light in Good Muslim, Bad Muslim (Omar El-Khairy) a sketch in which a Sharia-loving girl (Naomi Ackie) and her emancipated boyfriend (Julian Stolzenberg) argue over their interpretation of Islam, only to talk each other into reversing their positions, even as they continue to mouth dogmatic slogans.
Each of the eight short plays is acted skillfully by the small cast, who take on different voices and personas with astonishing ease. The evening is also made distinctive by Cressida Brown's superb direction
Each performance of Tightrope is followed by a 30-minute panel discussion between audience and pundits. It's a pleasure to report that freedom of expression is once more alive and well in Edinburgh.
