Note: This review is from the 2012 Fringe

Theatre / 90 min / £9(£8),£8 (£7) / U

Showing @ Pleasance Courtyard, 3-18 Aug, 12.25

It must be said, biographical art can be fraught with hazards – historical inaccuracies, or fractious acolytes for example. Young Pleasance traversed this hurdle by creating a play about Thomas Chatterton which actually has little to do with him. Divided between Chatterton’s life and that of a young American academic researching the ephemeral poet, the narrative leaps between the mid-1700s and 2010. Tim Norton’s direction is impressively fluid and his script well written, the period dialogue sounding as natural as the contemporary. What is particularly clever is the fact that Chatterton-the-man is pretty much negligible; it is the image that matters. It portrays the culture of spectacle and sensation nurtured by ‘popular’ media, such as Hollywood. Perspicacious observation and an invariably strong cast make this a vivacious and interesting piece of theatre.