Jake Mace
Somewhere in the desert between Gonzales, Texas and Fort Sumner, New Mexico you’ll find two teenage cowboys searching for their manifest destiny. Hearing rumours that their hero Billie the Kid may not be dead as suspected, the duo leave the comfort of their home town and their Wild West-themed Spelling Bees (yes, really) to hit the road, travel the West, and take on any ‘Indians’ they find.
The first shot of the Texan Revolution was fired in Gonzales in 1835, and this piece imagines two young, boisterous, and mollycoddled descendants of the revolutionaries thrust out into the harshness of the real world. Their worldview is filled with idealised preconceptions about what lays beyond their town – a country that’s for them and only them, fuelled by a love of comics that seems idiosyncratically out of time, but adds to the general air of timelessness that surrounds this story. It could just as well be a story about modern masculinity, but drawn back to a lens of nostalgia, and the impact of fanciful role models for young men.
Cody and Beau see each other and one another as the next great ‘Western Heroes’ – and both meet their first test as a rowdy dog chases them around their classmate’s barn late of an evening. The duo soon come to learn that the West isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and that their views of the Native American peoples living around them might not be based in reality. In the swirling desert heart, they dream of a hedonistic and debaucherous night ahead of them, but fate has something else in store.
Dramatically physical storytelling bookends sections of tightly wound tragicomedy. Cody is the rambunctious and ambitious upstart to the more naïve and wide-eyed Beau. They leap around the stage with such whimsical glee that you can’t help but get swept up in their antics – dashing through the desert sands, playing toy soldiers, flashing their fake wooden guns at one another. Moments of absurdity intersperse the linear narrative to striking effect, with visions of the fictionalised world the pair want to inhabit.
High-octane performances from both Dylan Kaueper as Cody and Will Grice as Beau are the beating heart of this show, eventually allowing us deeper into the pair’s psyches and with an emotive, high-stakes finale. Beau’s character arc sees him come to terms with the fact that his heroes may not even look him in the eye, while Cody’s self-assuredness and determination is weathered by the realities of life on the road.
All of this is played with a fantastically-delivered light touch. Between the moments of pathos and introspection is a bundle of exuberant, playful joy and roleplay that settles this as a firm and promising debut for Kaueper and Grice. They’re a duo to watch.
Some elements of the show could be tighter – the pure frantic energy of this piece can sometimes keep you keeping up. While keeping up the Southern Drawl for the full 50 minute runtime is no mean feat, there are moments where certain words slip back into their natural accents. I’d like to see more focus on exploring the revolutionary backstories of these two’s families also, as we’re given only a passing glint of that element of depth. These characters are deeply felt in some elements of their self and lighter in others, yet we’re given a tantalising and greatly satisfyingly unsatisfying ending that alleviates.
Tech elements are implemented seamlessly into this piece which match the swivel-eyed vigour put in by the performers. There’s inventive use of a limited lighting rig, especially in the scene where Beau comes face-to-face with a spectre of one of his heroes that provides striking imagery. Elsewhere, the use of a box of props and toys harks back to the inherent themes of childhood while also being utilised skilfully for the physical elements of the story.
Dylan and Will’s devilishly sharp and fervent EdFringe debut is a whip-smart romp through toxically masculine idols and false expectations of what it means to be a man.
Recommended Drink: Pair this with a rootin’, tootin’ Sarsparilla, or a Bourbon Whiskey to try and ward off your foes.
You can catch Cody and Beau: A Wild West Story until August 9th at theSpace on the Mile – Space 1 at 21:45 and then again from August 11th – 16th at Upper Theatre at theSpace @ Niddry St from 11:50 (50mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Lamesha Ruddock
Jasmine Silk
