In the context of Donald Trump’s potential re-election in the US and troubling far-right violence in the UK, this show is a topical, pressing look at the mind of a vulnerable citizen abandoned by mainstream politics and seduced by Trump’s promises of national renewal. One of the crucial questions, all too often ignored in discourse around the rise of the far-right, is what makes a Trump supporter? What concerns do they have that his rhetoric appeals to?
We find our answers in Jimmy, a disaffected veteran of both the Vietnam war and the collapse of the Detroit motor industry, who presents us with a one-man emotional history of the Vietnam War and its consequences. He is the everyman, a typical guy – not a hateful man by any stretch – who has spent a lifetime labouring away at a life that ceased to feel his own since his youth was stripped by the brutal, futile bloodbath in Vietnam. You watch as he gazes through the broken mirror of his past and struggles with the spectre haunting his life.
He finds himself in need of a conduit for the grinding anger and resentment gnawing away at his insides and finds it in Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric. His legitimate concerns – poverty, social alienation – mix with the troubling. Yes, drain the swap, make America great again he thinks, however misguided.
These complex themes are handled with appolmb by writer and sole actor Richard Vergette, his lurid descriptions of war transport you to the jungles of Vietnam and you grieve with him as he loses friends and part of his soul; the darker elements of his performance – Jimmy’s shadow – grab a hold of you and refuse to let go. However, the mid to late section of the show drags a little as Jimmy’s homelife is described, and the accent Vergette puts on isn’t entirely convincing, mixing a faux midwestern twang with spots of England – landing somewhere in the mid-Atlantic. But if you’re looking for a nuanced look at American politics this Fringe, look no further.
Born in the USA (Leaving Vietnam), 16:00, C Arts, Until August 25
