The set-up is simple. The stage stark. The final message harrowing.
A successful writer returns to her home town of Mountain Grove, Missouri where she is interviewed in the Ozark Cabin Motel by a young journalist from the local newspaper.
It is a routine assignment for the journo and a good bit of local PR for the returning hero.
The interview starts brightly with nothing too controversial being said.
By this time the audience has bought into the authenticity of the lead character Diane played by the talented Margaret Curry.
It is only down to the acting ability of Curry, who has a string of film and theatre credits to her name, that the play manages to take the audience with it, when it takes a dark turn.
The reporter asks what influence her home life and living in the Missouri town had had on her life and writing.
The answer is not expected and without going into much details she calls out her step-father for his despicable sexual behaviour towards her when she was a little girl and what she did to him as pay back.
Her answer was a twist I didn’t see coming and was revenge of sorts for the hard-drinking writer whose penchant for vodka kept her talking about the vile treatment she had received and who finally plucks up the courage to confront her past.
The play by Lanford Wilson was written in the 1980s and isn’t for the faint hearted.
It is an absolute triumph for Curry who deserves praise for her tour de force performance.
In the hands of a lesser talent the words and actions could have looked tawdry and only played for shock value.
Curry rises above that and puts in one of the best ever Fringe acting performances I have seen.
