Set in a post-holocaust America, Square One plays out the grim realisation of the fears of the Cold War. The Orwellian style future allows the government the ultimate control and tells of their tyrannical reign through television .
We experience ‘Patriotic Variety Hour’ a concept as terrifying as it is hilarious. Here the will of the government is smarmily transmitted and songs are sung for those unfortunate enough to be surplus for the new regime. This is a grim parody of both entertainment and politics, and highlights the ever decreasing difference between the two.
With strictly regulated lives and social circles, the prospect and the actuality of relationships is suddenly a new and very different concept. Through the bittersweet comedy of the courtship and marriage of our two main characters, we see the best and worst of their world. The result is a smart, funny, ultimately haunting tale of life as a machine. Where career, marriage, emotion and even life and death are controlled from a central unseen force, life becomes nothing more than a series of cogs, no deviation, no escape, merely traveling through without control.
This is by far the most interesting and engaging theatre I have seen this Fringe, superbly and sweetly acted, the humour and the gravity of events played against each other perfectly. Quite simply not to be missed.
5/5
Brid-Aine Conway
