The stage is sparse in the underground black box of Traverse 2, just a plain table, two folding plastic chairs and a bright red bag of Doritos. A projector advises, keep hands in plain view, the unmistakable soundscape of prison echos through the small space before the projected image starts counting off the years of incarceration. 1, 2, 3… The play starts at year 4. The tight three-sided seating focuses on a spotlight which focuses on the bag of Doritos, two men enter.
The story follows two half-brothers one a white supremacist convicted murderer, the other a rising young ‘woke’ writer over the course of 20+ years as they meet at various intervals.
A relationship broken apart by lies and mistrust tries and tries again to be re-glued with their shared blood like an intricate Kintsugi. The wardrobe and the life changes for the Outside brother, evolve from shorts and a hoodie as a struggling college student to a wool suit, a wife and a child as a best-selling professor. Meanwhile, Inside remains in his orange jumpsuit seemingly as stuck in his uniform as he is in his attitudes and ideologies, despite his brother’s best attempts to ‘educate’ him.
Based upon playwright, Gabriel Jason Dean’s own struggle with his incarcerated brother, in prison for murder, the script is brutally honest and flies off the page. Actors Matt Monaco (Inside) and Blake Stadnik (outside) are both excellent, and it was indeed remarkable to find out after the event that Stadnik has been legally blind since the age of eight. This is certainly not obvious on stage.
At times a hard watch, a wordy and claustrophobic experience that demands our attention but has little by way of simple allegorical answers, an exploration of race, power and ideological divides in modern America.
A play that demands the ‘cycle to be broken’, but can it be that simple?
Times Vary – check venue – Till 24th August
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/rift
Reviewer: Greg Holstead
Reviewed: 1st August 2025
North West End UK Rating:
Running time – 1hr 20mins
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