Festival to make terror and bombings 'fun'

ARTISTS and performers are reacting in many ways to global terrorism in shows at the Edinburgh festivals this year - but some have altered their acts after the London bombings.

A Muslim stand-up comedian, the Danish-born Omar Marzouk, has been touring Europe with an act in which he "blows up" his audience with a fake suitcase bomb.

The "bomb" is designed by a television special-effects team and explodes on stage, but the Fringe performer is planning to cut the scene following fears it may cause offence.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The leading Irish comedian, Andrew Maxwell, said he had originally written a large segment of his show on the theme that it was impossible to have a British suicide bomber.

"That was a very key section of my show, about the Britishness of Muslims, more interested in the car and making a cup of tea than extremism," he said.

"It was in a nutshell that you would never get a British suicide bomber, that the 'normalness' of British Muslims would preclude them ever being fanatical enough.

"The audiences loved it but it proved to be completely wrong and irrelevant."

There are at least ten major shows at the Fringe and the Edinburgh International Festival that explore terror.

They range from the major opera, the Death of Klinghoffer - about the true-life terrorist murder of an elderly American - to The Wrong Man, a play exploring a family caught in the Irish troubles and written by a former publicist for Sinn Fein.

One production, the modern opera Manifest Destiny, shows a suicide bomber putting on his explosive belt.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Keith Burstein, the composer, said producers "agonised" over whether to change the show, at St George's West, following the bombings, and will cut the scene if requested.

"Our show does have graphic scenes of the ritual dressing of a suicide bomber before his team goes on a mission.

"Stress levels have gone up since 7 July, so if the Assembly think it is too upsetting then we will cut the scene."

Marzouk's show, War, Terror, and other Fun Stuff, runs at the Pleasance. He said of the "bomb": "People haven't had a problem with it while the terror attacks were going on in Iraq. But it changes when it's close to you, and somehow it seems improper."

Performers could face tough questions if they are seen as making light of victims of terror or aiming jibes at Muslims. But Maxwell said yesterday comedians could only respond by being irreverent and funny.

He plans to make fun of Londoners' reaction to the bombs.

"You can't placate. You have to make fun of them all, the actual terrorists, the government, our leaders, the lot. When there's earnestness and seriousness about, that's where comedians get into the fray."

Even at the Pleasance's launch show yesterday, comedian Robin Ince joked that terrorists would be more popular if they put fireworks in their bombs.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Danny Morrison, the former IRA member, Maze prisoner, and Sinn Fein PR director, wrote The Wrong Man about a family conflict after the finger of suspicion is pointed at an informer.

He said the Fringe needed to tackle the issues of modern life, though he drew sharp differences between IRA terror and al-Qaeda terror, where "the whole point is to take civilian life".

"Blowing up a bomb on stage isn't funny," he said. "That sounds sick. The explosion on the Tubes in London and the deaths are very fresh in people's minds and I don't think you can make fun of that."

A show entitled Terrorist! The Musical, is about seven unemployed terrorists who decide to become entertainers after George Bush wins the so-called war on terror.

Jessica Black, the director of the play, said the show will definitely go ahead.

"We have a message to get across. We need to look at why people are doing these things, the idea that people committing terrorist acts are just crazy extremists is inaccurate."

The show includes only one Palestinian character - not a suicide bomber - among others ranging from the kidnap victim-turned-terrorist, Patty Hearst, to the London nail bomber, David Copeland.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We look at all sorts of different terrorists. We don't have anyone from al-Qaeda," she said. "We need to look at why and what's going on to make these people give their lives to commit these acts."

Other Fringe shows include Guardians, examining the story of the Abu Ghraib prison, while My Pyramids focuses on Private Lyndie England, the US soldier awaiting trial in her homeland.

Paul Gudgin, the Fringe director, said: "It is right that performers give their views on terrorism. At this time it is even more pertinent and important for performers to talk about it."