Fringe Review: OPERATION BLANK, Fleming Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall
Photo credit: Luke Kirby
George Grant returns to Edinburgh Festival Fringe with his play Operation Blank, which debuted at last year’s festival. This one-man play focuses on a junior civil servant who takes it upon himself to find a solution to a world altering, and possibly world ending, event - someone has dropped an atomic bomb on Copenhagen. Much to his frustration, the rest of his team who are present via Microsoft Teams don’t see the urgency of the situation.
Grant’s play feels scarily relevant in the current political climate. The show is billed as a comedy but it feels a little too close to potential reality to be a full-on laugh out loud show. However, there are a few laughs scattered throughout, mainly from the ensemble of bizarre characters present via Teams.
As an actor, Grant delivers a wonderfully intense performance. Despite a fairly small audience, he gives an incredibly committed performance and we immediately grasp the magnitude of the effects that this bomb could have on the world. Grant does a great job at portraying the civil servant’s anger and frustration, as well as the more emotional moments as we start to see him break down. However, a few more shifts in energy level could benefit the piece as Grant’s performance is very intense almost for the whole show.
As the ending, which we won’t spoil here, begins to arrive, there is an initial sense of disappointment in the anti-climax. However, Grant lands the ending perfectly, turning this political drama into a very relatable play about the work we do and whether we find meaning in it.
With Operation Blank, George Grant has redefined what a one-man play can be. Playing the rest of his team on Microsoft Teams himself is pure genius and this allows us to see Grant’s versatility as an actor. Kudos to Grant for the amount of time and effort it must have taken to pre-record all of the other parts and edit them together. The timing is always perfect - we’re never waiting for the next line to be said on screen nor do those on screen interrupt Grant’s dialogue on stage when they’re not supposed to. Operation Blank also provides something refreshingly different to the standard ‘one person and a chair’ shows that feature so heavily across Fringe festivals.
For a debut production, with Grant serving as writer, performer and director, this play is really quite wonderful and we cannot wait to see what the future holds for this incredibly talented and hard-working creative.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Jacob Bush