“More and more young men are cut adrift, lost in a world that describes their very nature as toxic. The basic state of being a human male, they are told repeatedly, is poisonous. Testosterone is the juice of all evil.”

WHO: Kent Stetson

WHAT: “In One and The Other, two young men grapple with nihilistic twenty-first century hatred, hatred to which one succumbs, hatred over which one triumphs. From its shadowed depths, the play rises toward the constant light which buoys the human heart.

Canadian-born Zaydan Khalil, a linguistically talented fourteen-year-old boy, is abandoned by his father at a Taliban compound in Afghanistan. Zaydan is gravely injured then captured during a US/Taliban firefight. He’s transported to the United States military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he is held for ten years without a formal charge. Did Zaydan throw the grenade that killed an American medic? Despite the lack of evidence, the boy is lost to his family and all but forsaken by his country. Zaydan Kahil, boy to man, endures ten years of gross human rights abuse, deprivation, isolation and torture.

A life of privilege and heightened natural ability is no shield against Kerry Long’s darkening aspirations. The naïve, gifted, rudderless young man becomes a conduit for the nihilistic hatred of North America’s extreme right. We watch with growing unease as Kerry Long assembles a cadre of like-minded nihilists. Under the influence of the faceless Colonel, his conversion is swift and inevitable: Kerry Long murders eight men at prayer in the Grand Mosque of his Canadian hometown.

“No one” Zaydan tells Kerry, “deserves to live without hope.”

WHERE: Quarry Theatre

WHEN: 31 July 2023 @ 19:30 (60mins)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Bedfringe?

Yes indeed. This is my very first trip to the Bedfringe. We’re delighted to be offering you the world premiere of a new Canadian work for two young actors titled One and The Other.

What appeals to me about the Bedford Festival is its manageability, from both a presenter and audience POV. I like the size of the undertaking and AM impressed by the wide-ranging quality of the work on offer. When I look at the listings, you folks are clearly operating at a very high level in terms of content and style.

We are a perfect fit. One and The Other navigates dark territory with a good heart, its compass steadily pointing to the north and south, east and west of hope, forgiveness, kindness and, that most perfect of impulses, love.

I don’t know what makes a great festival, (this is my first) but I imagine it is the honesty and the simplicity of material and in relation to its presentation. I’m hoping that our exchange with your audience will be as direct and engaging as the work itself. Our play will move audiences to rage and tears. But we won’t leave you looking for a razor blade or rouching home to play our beloved countryman Leonard Cohen tunes.

No! Wait, Leonard Cohen is the perfect post show swallow!

We’ll help you celebrate the beauty of the human condition while deploring the cruelty we humans can inflict one upon the other.

In the end, One and The Other is a provocative, tender play about love and hope.

I’m hoping THAT is what makes a great festival (Ask me again next year!)

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

What have I been up to? Getting better at doing what I love.

I’m pleased to report that despite the fact fringe festivals have tended to appeal to younger audiences and artists, they are becoming more and more important to old farts like me! I just turned 76 in July. For a while there I was afraid, that because I am an accomplished old white male the world had heard quite enough from me. But no! I discovered that I’ve gotten so good at what I do… well, it’s like my dear old Dad used to say: It takes me longer to do what I used to do more often, but now I do it better!

Come see One and The Other and prove me wrong! I dare you!

So yes… that’s what the experience of writing this wonderful new show has been for me. The big lesson is this: the more you write, the more you understand; the longer you live the more hope you nurture. The big payoff? The more kindness each of us experiences and shares, the better we all become.

Tell us about your show.

I won’t repeat the promotion material here. But what I can tell you is this: More and more young men are cut adrift, lost in a world that describes their very nature as toxic. The basic state of being a human male, they are told repeatedly, is poisonous. Testosterone is the juice of all evil.

This is harsh, cruel, unnecessary, vengeful nonsense. Young men are still as beautiful and strong and potent and kind and weak and wonderful as they’ve always been. The demonization of our boys and young men has done nothing but harm us all. Three generations have been raised now in circumstances where they are blamed for inhabiting their very biological nature. Let me repeat. This is cruel false misleading propagandistic nonsense.

If you know a young man whom you love, if you are a young man who needs to learn to love himself then come see our show. One and The Other will help.
Guaranteed.

What should your audience see at Bedfringe after they’ve seen your show?

Producer/Presenter Bob Paisley from Kansas City’s Central Standard Theatre has worked a bit of magic in the marriage of Just Like Hollywood and our show, One and The Other. We’re all cool Canadian passion. Our American cousins are often baffled by our reticence. But only briefly. They’ve learned in our two hundred year history of mutual forbearance that a slow burn ain’t a low burn. When we wintery Canadians come to a boil, the steam will mesmerize.

The wonderful power of John Clancy’s mesmerising, unsettling Just Like Hollywood is this: It comes on at full boil then turns u the heat! It provokes and unsettles. It excoriates and reveals. This is no nip and tuck: Just like Hollywood is a flat out full facial peel. Wonderful and courageous. Bless your heart, John. You pull no punches. It’s good to hang out with another old fart who doesn’t give a %*£k and says what needs to be said!

I’ve only read the text but can’t wart to see it. So looking forward to meeting the Just Like Hollywood cast and crew in Bedford. Well matched Bob!

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