Terrorist! The Musical

By Gene - 11th Aug 2005

With Carlos the Jackal, Patricia Hearst, David Copeland and Menachem Begin – to name but a few – you would be forgiven for thinking this brand new musical would be hard to swallow given the current climate. On the contrary, the show, written and devised by the company and directed by Jessica Beck, is a what-if retrospective and a what-could be if Bush does take over the world. Who is the terrorist? The single minded individual who seeks world domination or the Jackal, the Prime Minister of Israel or the leftist Symbionese Liberation Army? Whichever, or whomever this show takes them all on from Bush to Copeland. It does not give the answers it merely raises the questions for an intelligent audience to draw their own conclusions.

With high camp song routines evocative of The Producers and political incorrectness gone mad, this premier production with original music rings with echoes of Jerry Springer The Opera – and we all remember how that started in Edinburgh and went on to become a major success; splitting audiences world wide for its provocative and in-yer-face approach to a very difficult subject matter.

I will now put myself on the line here: with the right will, some fine tuning and careful marketing. Terrorist! The Musical could be the next big thing in the hands of a canny Producer. The songs burst with energy and colour, the choreography and stylised action generates the campest of shows dealing with the hardest of issues.

On a final note, Laura Best as Kim Hyun Hee (aka: Miss Kim) delivers the most stunning and heartbreaking song about her leader: Just for You – perhaps, maybe, possibly…. showing there is a human spirit behind everyone! Beautifully sung and oh so convincingly acted.

Gene David Kirk

Daily at 22.30 at the Big Belly, Smirnoff Underbelly, Cowgate