Showing @ C Venue 54 until-30th Aug 20:30 50m PG
The union of gluttony and guilt that defines the Western condition is rightfully fusing stand up, cabaret and theatre this Fringe. We obsess over the self-made man believing his hard graft alone carved his path out of poverty, despite the odds we still play the lottery and after drinking our weight in alcohol or when we’re down to our last pound we stumble into a casino or buy a scratch card. It’s the natural relationship between capitalism and addiction that creates this state of insatiable desire: an unhealthy addiction to financial sacrifice. Nowhere on earth is this facet of the human psyche more visible than in a casino.
Taking on four roles, solo performer Alex Moran tries to shed a little light on the issues of addiction and obsession that plague so many of us. Beginning as a Glaswegian croupier he tells us tales of businesswomen turned hookers, losers turned winners and the enforced moral bankruptcy that follows him to work each day.
Swiftly and confidently melting from man to woman, croupier to gambler, hard-man to Chinese playboy, Moran is the ideal vessel for writer Richard Holdsworth’s enjoyable if unoriginal tale. It’s no revelation that gambling addictions lead to depravity and despair, but what Blackjack does touch on is that moment where a frivolous game devours lives, at which point Moran’s croupier ominously mutters “it’s just cards and chips”. The only real problem with this show is the venue. Playing to an undeservedly small audience of dedicated theatre goers, this type of stirring indictment would easily shift into the remit of light-hearted agit-prop by being taken to the endless slot machine casinos that litter Edinburgh’s streets habitually sucking in Big Issue sellers and old women with their dole cheques who are left helplessly clinging to the dream of the big win.
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