The Trial of Jane Fonda (Edinburgh Fringe)

You don’t need to know much about either Jane Fonda or the Vietnam War to enjoy Terry Jastrow's new play examining the Hollywood star’s infamous protests against the conflict that led to her being labelled 'Hanoi Jane'.

The action is set in 1988 and is based on a real-life meeting in a church in Waterbury, Connecticut between Fonda and local Vietnam veterans, with predictably fiery results.

She’s in town to shoot a movie with Robert DeNiro, and has found herself the target of boycotts and protests due to her actions in Vietnam, where she was photographed sitting on a Vietcong anti-aircraft gun.

At times the play feels like a rather simplistic history lesson, as archive clips of the miserable conflict are projected on a large screen above the stage (including a gruesome scene of a Vietnam boy being shot in the head).

But it’s engrossing all the same, helped largely by a magnificent performance from Anne Archer in the title role. No small movie star herself, with credits including Fatal Attraction, Archer displays the requisite mix of glamour and grit that makes her a wholly plausible Fonda.

As the scarred vets, Darrell Brockis, Ian Virgo, Greg Patmore, Ian Porter and Jay Benedict make for a suitably surly gang (skilfully dealing with a malfunctioning chair that threatened to steal the show), while John Sackville as the Reverend who chairs the meeting delivers a touching coda that brings a lump to the throat.

Although Jastrow's script at times lapses into cliché, while his staging is a little one-note, he's to be commended on bringing to light an episode that highlights the bravery of Fonda in the face of belligerence.

The Trial of Jane Fonda runs at the Assembly Rooms until 24 August

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