Charles Bronson – Anger. Blood. Violence. And shouting is what I expected. And I wasn’t disappointed.
It’s a big ask to represent the multiple personality disorder of one infamous criminal with one actor across a single hour. Especially when the representation that most people will be familiar with will be Tom Hardy’s method film portrait. Charles Bronson – a man who turned a 7-year sentence into more than 5 decades of incarceration is going to be more myth than man with a loaded expectancy surrounding him.
The pitfall of a one-man show with six characters is that creative differences could become a medical concern if not a psychiatric one.
So, Bronson, written and performed by Francis Saunders then is an ambitious feat in itself.
Anger. Blood. Violence. And shouting is what I expected. And I wasn’t disappointed.
Written as six characterful monologues from different stages of the colourful criminal’s career, Bronson is a complex portrait of the man who should have trademarked ‘it’s complicated’ as his raison d’etre mission statement. Born Michael Peterson, he was a low-rung robber who became the patron saint of aggression with hostage scenarios as his peculiar MO, including a 44-hour capture of a prison teacher who suffered long-term psychological damage. Easy to see why he is the poster man for troubled men the world over.
The ambition in Francis Saunders’ reading is immense. A studied comprehension of a complex man versus mythology. Utilising every space of the small box of the Etcetera Theatre that transforms cosy into an uncomfortable intimacy, which is both compelling and uncomfortable and the show runs almost like a greatest hits (no pun intended) of Bronson.
Saunders delivers physically and emotionally. He is a bit of a unit; tall, tattooed, muscled and, very present, so that we feel the blows of Bronson without needing to see someone pummelled in front of us. It’s a full-on, wild ride that is punctuated by spotlights and repositioning that mark the phases of Bronson’s rage and bait and give pause for thought. It’s well written and captures a tone that isn’t scared to be funny where funny fits. It will be interesting to see what’s next for Saunders if Bronson is anything to go by.
★★★★
Reviewed by Ruby Blue for West End Wilma
