The Mosinee Project tells the fascinating tale of a tiny town in Wisconsin who decided to stage a takeover of the town by the Communists to demonstrate the extent of the Red Terror that lay in-store, should the townsfolk not pay proper attention. New theatre group, Counterfactual, have created the work, led by their Artistic Director Nikhil Vyas, and it’s a fascinating piece.

On International Workers Day which happens to be 1 May, 1950, the American Legion in Wisconsin, anxious that the President wasn’t taking the threat posed by Communism seriously enough, staged the town takeover, arresting the town’s mayor, installing road blocks, introducing ration cards, playing Russian propaganda in the local movie theater and winding up the day’s ‘festivities’ with a bonfire at which the Communist banners were summarily burnt.

The play tells the story of the takeover, relying on first person accounts after the event and an archive of photos to recreate the discussions that (may have) happened in the run up and to document the consequences. It’s a snappy, sharp production, neatly staged with a super cast (Jonathan Oldfield, Millicent Wong) who varyingly play all of the characters in the unfolding drama. Projections of both photos and occasional footage (Dan Light), recordings of those involved in the actual events, lovely use of puppetry and some beautifully lit props (Grace Venning) assist in the storytelling. Amidst the politics, there are some fun scenes – a lovely role play when Judge John Decker (Martha Watson Allpress) is asked to imagine how easily the Communist threat could sink his stable home life with wife Irene, for example. And the whole package is delivered with seamless panache.

It’s great fun but, possibly on account of the lack of source material, the script’s a mite confusing. Or maybe it’s the message that’s a mite confusing. The topic’s fascinating. The topicality unarguable. There’s a bit of chat at the start about the way that countries such as ours effectively orbit America in terms of its sphere of influence, whether or not we have political ties. But the overall tone is glib. And at a time when we’re increasingly seeing the horrific repercussions of highly prized ideologies and the rampant creep of mis and disinformation, it feels like there’s a bit more of an opportunity to be snatched for this story.

The Mosinee Project is at Underbelly Cowgate – Big Belly until Sun 25 Aug 2024 (except Mon 19) at 15:30