Yes, we need to pay more attention to the rise of fascism and probably do something about it. No, we do not need another play to spell that out for us anymore.
Yes, we need to pay more attention to the rise of fascism and probably do something about it. No, we do not need a play to spell that out for us anymore.
In the summer of 2017, a local movement swelled around the removal of a prominent statue of American Confederate General Robert E. Lee. It was part of a larger trend across America to retire the statues of historical figures with pro-slavery legacies. In a protest against the removal of Lee’s statue, various conservative and alt-right groups organized what became known as the Unite the Right rally – one of the most prominent displays of neo-Naziism, racism, and white supremacy on American soil in this century.
To protest that counterprotest, liberals marched against the Unite the Right marchers, and, in a very quick turn of events, tensions escalated. Shortly after mid-day, white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car into a crowd of protestors, murdering Heather Heyer and injuring thirty-five others. The freshly elected President Trump chastised the violence on Twitter and then assured the nation that there were “very fine people on both sides.”
Now that we’re in the thick of his second term, it’s not surprising that someone took it upon themselves to address this new political moment in an hour of live Fringe theatre, flipping a mirror between Charlottesville and today. But it was surprising to hear the same old message that all of us are tired of hearing: we need to do something about the rise of fascism.
By god, we do. But a fiery recital of court testimonies and first-person accounts – even by a celebrity – won’t do much more for inciting “action” than a rerun of 60 Minutes these days.
Solo-performer Priyanka Shetty does some serious heavy-lifting of the text, playing all of the characters and doing some remarkable physical and vocal work to bring each of them to life. She also weaves her own narrative – as an immigrant from India and undergraduate student in the Drama department at the University of Virginia at the time of the Charlottesville rally – into her retelling of the event.
But the play’s generalized anger and obsession with pointing a frustrated finger at complacency and the rise of conservatism overpower what could have been a poignant new perspective on a very recent (yet oft-forgotten) moment of Executive-sanctioned violence against peaceful protest.
The highlight was Shetty’s portrayal of Heyer’s mother and the words she shared with reporters shortly after the protest and her daughter’s death: “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” Anger is certainly a tool we can use to fight complacency. But merely demonstrating anger in a theatre for an hour is not going to be enough to shake us into action.
#CHARLOTTESVILLE: – The play that Trump does not want you to see! was a part of the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and played until 24 August. More info here: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/charlottesville-the-play-that-trump-does-not-want-you-to-see