[Review] Playing Burton
We don’t have a star rating system here at the Fringe Podcast, but if we did, then this would be the first 5/5 show that I’ve seen this year. Brian Mallon takes on the role of Richard Burton looking back through his life, and also revisiting scences in his life. Opening with the BBC Radio News Bulletin announcing the actor’s death, Mallon takes the audience on a rollercoaster experience through Burton’s life. Carrying the entire performance himself, with only the occassional telephone ring to interrupt, Mallon is utterly convincing as the hell raising Burton, introducing him seconds after his death, rolling back time to his childhood as Richard Jenkins in Wales, through the stage roles and the beckoning of Hollywood (and, of course, the many wives and lovers).
The overriding theme from this play is that Burton did it his way. If he wanted something, it was his. If that meant that everyone around him was going to disagree strongly with him, so be it. Burton’s life doesn’t need re-appraised by today’s media, because they never truly appreciated what he was when he was alive. He was the one to knock down, even in the obituaries.
As time goes by, people look back at Burton and see a strong chartacter, one who was determined, and who always lived on his own terms. This play, a last-minute replacement only now going into the printed Fringe listings, is already hitting audiences of 50 every night on word of mouth alone. It deserves not only to sell out, but to sell out and go onto bigger and better things. If there’s a hidden classic at this year’s Fringe, this is it.
Who: Playing Burton
Where: Plesance Dome
When: 15th-29th (not 18th) August