Lorna Irvine reviews a production she finds 'essential, chilling, uncompromising, unforgettable'.
Chris Thorpe's Fringe First winner 2014 Confirmation is a relentless, snarling feral beast that won't let go.
Exploring confirmation bias (broadly speaking, consciously seeking out people who mirror our own belief systems), he comes up against John, the ranting racist who people cross the street to avoid, explores the issues raised in Minor Threat's hardcore track ‘Guilty of Being White’ and spends time with a white supremacist, Glenn, who he wants to see do something-anything-unexpected, when in his company, as he seems too normal.
With scalpel-like precision, Thorpe, a self-confessed liberal, confronts head-on our own preconceptions and expectations through his own research. He scrutinises how certain extremist political factions can co-opt or assimilate ideologies in order to come across as forces of benign benevolence, before attacking their targets. He's fully aware of the cognitive dissonance he experiences when learning of one of his bigot's tireless charity work for disabled people, or how another lost his wife too young.
His mic lead becomes a whip, the spit flies as his invective grows, his bellicose belligerence at times reminiscent of early Alexei Sayle (himself a Marxist comic who spoke of breaking political barriers in his early act) but just as challenging and confrontational when reducing his voice to an eerie whisper, giving audience members his steely, penetrating blue-eyed stare.
Nobody is safe from Thorpe's gaze, but we are all included. He makes us challenge our own liberal assumptions--and even how 'good' or 'right thinking' we are. He sings to us, before presenting a statement reading 'Everybody Thinks They're Right'. If we could but only step outside of ourselves, he posits, but knows life isn't like that. There are nuances, and cracks in our thinking. Triggers can come in many forms. We are all fragile, all susceptible to life's barbs.
This is not an easy ride--many will find themselves torn between shouting out, laughing and then wanting to cry at, for example, the outrageous bullshit spoken by the Holocaust denying man- and then, THEN, there is the final, terrible sucker punch. As the insidious, evil far-right gain ground in Russia and across Europe, this is theatre that matters--really matters. Brilliant, devastating writing. A powerhouse performance.
Essential, chilling, uncompromising, unforgettable.
Confirmation is presented as part of this year’s Behaviour festival and performs at The Arches until April 23. It is commissioned by Northern Stage and Battersea Arts Centre.
www.thearches.co.uk
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