“You don’t know where you’re going, till you know where you came from,” recounts Charlie Fairbanks. And so begins a journey through the life of Charlie, born in Kansas, growing up in a country expanding and looking beyond its own planet.
Key to the play is the role of dreams and aspirations. As a boy, Charlie is captivated by the space race, mirroring his country’s desire to send a man to the moon. As America looks to break free from its boundaries, so too does Charlie’s family – leaving the farm and their roots in Texas for a new life in San Francisco.
But as Charlie continues to fantasise about space exploration, the “childish dreams” of America are rocked by the assassination of Kennedy. And as man finally lands on the moon, Charlie is rocketed off to his own distant land – not another planet but Vietnam, where war is raging, leaving behind his sweetheart and his childhood for ever more.
This one-man show is an at times witty, often poignant trip though the life, not just of Charlie but of a booming America which loses its way. Benedict Chambers is fantastic as Charlie, holding the audience for the hour’s duration and using the stage and minimal set – one chair – to great effect to bring to life his Texan character. The play is warm and endearing, pulling the willing audience through history with skilful storytelling. It is unsurprising the piece won a stack of awards when it was originally performed in 2007 and it may well pick up some more in its current run.
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