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The Guardian
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Rift review – can a liberal and his white supremacist brother ever see eye to eye?
Families fell out over Brexit. They split over Trump. But few schisms can have been more severe than that of playwright Gabriel Jason Dean and his brother. It is a relationship that inspired this probing two-hander in which a bookish student at the start of a literary career (Blake Stadnik) visits his incarcerated sibling (Matt Monaco), hoping to help with his legal claim for release. As their meetings unfold over years and then decades, one becomes a celebrated champion of liberal values, while the other emerges as a white supremacist. What hope for reconciliation when each brother has views antithetical to the other's? It is a theme that was explored by Chris Thorpe in Confirmation (2014), which described the playwright's real-life attempt to see eye to eye with a Holocaust denier. That play was needling and unsettling in a way this one is not, but what Rift has on its side is the fraternal bond at its heart. With head shaved and swastika tattoo showing beneath his orange jumpsuit, Monaco frightens you with the ferocity of his stare and his air of volatility. In contrast, Stadnik could hardly look prissier with his neat business suit and ethical reading list. Yet these men are not strangers and cannot entirely discount each other. Their childhood history, in particular their repressed memories of abuse, gives them a bond that transcends matters of political difference. Directed with verve and intensity by Ari Laura Kreith for Luna Stage and Richard Jordan Productions, the play is at its most affecting when it reveals the vulnerable boys behind the damaged adults. If there is hope for a polarised culture, this is where it lies. There is humanity and understanding here – joining a far-right brotherhood may be a rational choice if your life depends on it – but Rift lets the audience off lightly by skirting the most awkward questions. At the Traverse, Edinburgh, until 24 August. All our Edinburgh festival reviews
The Herald Scotland
04-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Rift: A powerful piece on brotherly love and hate
Brotherly love - and hate - are at the heart of Gabriel Jason Dean's play, which charts the twin journeys of two siblings who respond in very different ways to the emotional baggage they carry with them. The younger begins as a nervous college kid, full of liberal idealism but still awkward around grown ups. Given that his brother he visits at the start of the play has already served four years of a life sentence for murder, no wonder. The fact that his elder sibling has a Swastika tattoo on his chest and is a leading light in a white supremacist group behind bars is something of a shock to the wet liberal system. Over the next two decades the irresistible rise of the younger as a writer sees both men learn much from each other. As they forge some kind of uneasy truce over the pains of shared history, however, it doesn't take much for those old bonds to break. Read More: Dean has produced a devastating piece of work that uses the trappings of a prison drama to posit a piercing debate on racism, sexuality, loyalty and betrayal. Drawn from his own experience of having a brother in prison, Dean utilises the intensity of a one-cell setting in the way the likes of a Sidney Lumet might. The result in Ari Laura Kreith's stark and stripped bare production by the New Jersey based Luna Stage company goes beyond its set-up to show off some of the awfulness of a polarised culture war in ugly close-up. As Outside Brother, Blake Stadnik shows off the development from boy to man as he grows in confidence. As Inside Brother, Matt Monaco is a mercurial dervish who shows off his own emotional complexities as he ages with a resigned demeanour in a slow-burning clash of values amidst the pains of confinement. For festival tickets see here
Scotsman
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Edinburgh festivals: 12 shows to be performed at Traverse Theatre this August
An 'honest, wicked and moving unpicking' of the character of the pantomime dame is among a range of original performances unveiled for this year's festival programme at the Traverse Theatre. Scotland's new writing theatre said it had unveiled a programme that 'reaffirms its unwavering commitment to discovering, developing and showcasing the most vital new voices in theatre'. This year's TravFest, which is comprised of 12 productions, including ten premieres, deals with issues from climate change to radicalisation and loved ones developing dementia. Other themes include global conflict and dysfunctional family dynamics, while also bringing joy, humanity, commonality and humour. Gary McNair's solo fable A Gambler's Guide to Dying returns to the Traverse ten years on from its sell-out, award-winning debut. Another production is Standing In The Shadows of Giants, a world premiere of an autobiographical musical play written and performed by Lucie Barât – sister of The Libertines' frontman and guitarist Carl Barât. Meanwhile, The Beautiful Future is Coming – an 'urgent' new play about the onrushing climate apocalypse - will span 250 years of real and imagined history through the eyes of three couples, from 1850s New York to present-day London. The new play by Karis Kelly, winner of the Women's Prize for Playwriting 2022, entitled Consumed, directed by Katie Posner, receives its world premiere on the Traverse stage this August. 1 . Standing In The Shadows Of Giants Lucie Barât, sister of The Libertines' frontman Carl Barât, steps into the spotlight in the world premiere of her autobiographical musical play Standing In The Shadows of Giants, directed by Traverse Associate Artist Bryony Shanahan. | Traverse Photo Sales 2 . She's Behind You Director John Tiffany returns to the Traverse alongside Johnny McKnight with She's Behind You, written by McKnight, an uplifting journey exploring our love of panto and the dames that define it. | Traverse Photo Sales 3 . Rift Inspired by playwright Gabriel Jason Dean's relationship with his own brother, a currently-incarcerated high-level member of the alt-right, RIFT is a story of estrangement, ideological divide, and the fight to change the world. The UK premiere is directed by Ari Laura Kreith and is presented by Luna Stage & Richard Jordan Productions. | Traverse Photo Sales 4 . Red Like Fruit A haunting exploration of complicity, consent, patriarchy and trauma in a post-#MeToo world, Red Like Fruit, brings audiences the latest work of award-winning Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch. This European premiere from 2b theatre company from Halifax Nova Scotia, directed by Christian Barry, sees Luke narrate Lauren's life: her fraying mental health and the unease she feels in the world. | Traverse Photo Sales
