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n Who We Become Part 2: Breakfast at the Track / A Poster of the Cosmos, we find the second set of Lanford Wilson’s one-act plays, selected by New York-based theatre company Deep Flight Productions for performance at the Edinburgh Fringe this year. Admittedly, following The Moonshot Tape in this two-part series’ first instalment – especially Margaret Curry’s powerful solo turn as an abuse victim shaping the narrative of her past – is a tall order. The Moonshot Tape displays some of the greatest literary and dramatic flair of the late Pulitzer prize-winner’s deep cuts: a fiercely felt and emotionally vast piece of writing, elegantly mustered and executed by Curry, who also serves as executive producer of Deep Flight Productions.
Contains brief glimpses of beauty, emotional nuance and genuinely terrific acting
The second part of the Who We Become series is performed on alternating days to the first, on the same stage at the theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall, with an equally minimalist approach to scenic design. In The Moonshot Tape, this stripped-back layout allowed greater emphasis on Wilson’s cutting language, enabling the words to fill the intimate space, as well as Curry’s calculated movements throughout. The benefits of minimalist staging in this second part – particularly in A Poster of the Cosmos – are less clear. There is an oppressive emphasis on stasis in this monologue’s staging, an explicit directorial decision that is initially appreciated but later, once the monologue moves between scenes, situations and interactions, feels ambivalent. There is an essential lack of clarity in A Poster of the Cosmos, which, while orbiting the central setup of an interrogation seat, could have benefited from greater movement to communicate more effectively its narrative and psychology – both of which are complex.
While The Moonshot Tape contains moments of comedy despite its harrowing subject matter, A Poster of the Cosmos contains none. On the other hand, Breakfast at the Track, the other short play presented in this part of Who We Become, is packed full of absurdist circularities and meaningless repetitions that highlight – in a vaguely humorous way – the lack of meaningful feelings in the central relationship of a married couple. This, coupled with A Poster of the Cosmos, a drama about homosexuality and the Aids epidemic, creates an aggressive tonal shift across the pieces, which feels too stark to justify the pairing. Where the first part shines as an isolated one-act play, this second part does not work on the same level – as a Fringe show, but also as drama – since neither play presented here is as effective a piece of writing as The Moonshot Tape.
That said, the second part contains brief glimpses of beauty, emotional nuance and genuinely terrific acting. I will be recommending Deep Flight Productions and this innovative two-part Lanford Wilson series as one of the lesser-spotted gems and welcome surprises of this year’s festival.
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