This production, by the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, highlights a certain problem faced by the school or producer when choosing a production which allows students to get a fair crack of the whip in showcasing their talents. The play has been constructed (that seems the best way to put it) by the playwright, Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Company who took part in the ‘project’ and carried out some of the interviews with the good people of Laramie. Laramie was a run of the mill god-ridden town of bigots and homophobes in the state of Wyoming, that shot to infamy following the brutal and senseless killing of a young gay man, Matthew Shepard, in 1998. The play is a catalogue of the reactions of the people of Laramie in the aftermath of the killing. 

What the play doesn’t explore in any depth – and probably couldn’t given its format – beyond some bible waving, are the wellsprings of the attitudes which are the seedbed for such barbarity. The piece does however offer a glimmer of hope for the future.  The event prompted lot of soul searching and contrition – in some cases with the faint odour of justification – suggesting that even in such conservative societies attitudinal change is possible.

What we have then is a blizzard of characters who unfortunately don’t get a chance to develop. Nor do they get a chance to interact, the format being largely testimony delivered straight to the audience. However, given the play is a socio-political crie de Coeur and not a showcase for talent, one must take it on its merits. The first, and longer, half offers the chance for some thumbnail characterisations which are competent and for the most part convincing and yet one felt there was a lot of playing at being American rather than being such and such a character who happened to be American. The second half which deals with the trial of the two boys who carried out the killing does manage to inject a little emotion into proceedings, notably in the testimony of the father of the murdered boy, Dennis Shepard (Danial Radze) which is given to the court. Theatricality raises its welcome head as Romaine Patterson (Tian Chaudhry) organises a protest of angels against the refractory preacher who continues to rail against homosexuality.

The play is nothing if not worthy and the cast go about the telling of the tale with commendable zeal whilst leaving one with the feeling that more emotional fireworks were latent in an otherwise impressive company. ★★★☆☆   Graham Wyles    22^nd February 2020