Writer and director Nikhil Vyas has found a great subject for this new short play. Along with original co-creator and dramaturg Aaron Kilercioglu, he presents an odd slice of history: 1 May 1950, when a small town in Wisconsin was taken over by Communism.
Of course you’re intrigued! And the fact that the event was only staged actually adds to the show’s theatrical potential. Vyas and his team (additional material is credited to Breffni Holahan, Jessica Layde, Jonathan Oldfield, Martha Watson Allpress and Millicent Wong) handle the topic with almost too much restraint. But the facts are fascinating.
In the midst of McCarthyism, The American League, a veterans organisation, masterminded proceedings to highlight the threat of the “red menace”. Showing us the build-up to the day might be more exciting. Did nobody object? Could plans have got out of hand? But is this fair criticism? The show is presented as a documentary, a little like a lecture, so the painstaking efforts separating verbatim and imagined scenes are important in themselves. There are plenty of addresses to the audience, news photos and recordings as well as video work aimed at suggesting the real-life location.
It’s a shame, though, that more isn’t revealed. Especially about the impact of the event. The three strong cast – Camilla Anvar, Jonathan Oldfield, Martha Watson Allpress – all impress, slipping in and out of their roles effortlessly and serving as trustworthy documentarians. But they also take on smaller roles as the town’s residents and this section could have easily been expanded.
The focus becomes an argument about whether the project is just a propaganda piece or something genuinely educational, embodied in a conflict between two of its organisers who, in a bizarre twist, were former Communists themselves. The tension between the two men doesn’t quite come through. And an extra debate about what stories really scare us isn’t elaborated on satisfactorily by Vyas. But for sheer ambition and interest The Mosinee Project is admirable. I didn’t quite learn as much as I wanted, but leaving intrigued and wanting more isn’t a bad outcome.
Until 22 March 2025
Photo by David Monteith-Hodge