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Terre Haute Review

May 4, 2007

Terre Haute @ The Royal Exchange Studio

Terre Haute wowed audiences at the Edinburgh Festival and right from the opening scenes, you can see why. This powerful and thought provoking two-hander is a scintillating piece of theatre. Like Nixon’s Nixon, it features a meeting of minds. The two characters are loosely based on Oklahoma Bomber, Timothy McVeigh and writer, Gore Vidal.

The writer has a story to print and the terrorist wants to put across his side of the story. These two opposites meet over a period of time, but the clock is ticking as Mc Veigh is to be executed. In order for this play to work, you need to believe these fictional conversations. Due to the solid writing and superb performances, this is never in any doubt.

Peter Eyre paints wealthy James as a sympathetic, driven but ultimately sad homosexual. He attempts to understand the killer but once he faces his wrath, retreats into a corner, like a scolded dog. Arthur Darvill is at times menacing, lost, and deeply troubled as the bomber with the story. Once his character loses his grip on reality, you can imagine him committing atrocities.

Of course, any play which features an enigmatic rich, flawed man versus a murderer is always going to be heavily weighted towards the ‘good.’ But writer Edmund White does attempt to create some balance. He doesn’t always pull it off successfully but he does try.

Setting the play in a prison creates tension and you feel like a spectator as these two men fight, verbally. Ultimately the performers are so completely believable that this is a play that has you gripped throughout. The sexual chemistry between these two unlikely ‘companions’ adds to the high drama.

This play is ideal for anyone who wants a talking point afterwards. At 75 minutes, it packs in more emotion than many productions can muster up in three hours.

Terre Haute is playing at the Royal Exchange until Saturday. It then continues at the Trafalgar Studios, London. To book in Manchester, click here.

If you prefer some biting verbatim theatre, check out the brilliant What I Heard In Iraq, at the Contact Theatre until Saturday. I saw this riveting piece and my review will appear on the main site on Monday or Tuesday. Like Talking To Terrorists, this excellent play is well worth a look.

Glenn Meads

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