Melancholia at Fringe

A fast-paced study of a soldier’s post-war breakdown, Melancholia incorporates Shakespeare, dance and bleak fatalism into an anti-Iraq War message that bravely avoids sentimentality or simplistic slogans. While the subject has been covered by The Deer Hunter, the contemporary setting and Latino perspective makes the play more than a predictable retread.

 

The large and lively cast careers through the life of Mario, who enlists out of vague patriotism and a need for meaning, but returns from Iraq nursing serious mental illness. Through hallucinatory flashbacks and symbolic dance routines, Mario and his two daemonic companions unravel his despair.

 

The suggestive set, surreal costumes and energy of the performers allow the events to inhabit a space on the boundaries of realism and imagination, using enough theatrical tricks to articulate ideas without loosing any emotional impact. Perceived through his own eyes and those of his family, Mario’s conduct is brutal, but he retains the audience’s sympathy. The political context is mentioned, but not over-played, and the cost of the war on the home front is emphasised. The LTC are a gifted young company: they engage, entertain and educate in an uplifting way, despite the brave refusal to compromise their intentions.