Joshua Kaplan's new play 'Terf' premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, featuring a fictional intervention by Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint aimed at ending JK Rowling's controversial social media posts on trans rights. The play, staged at the Assembly Rooms after a venue dispute, attempts to explore whether civil dialogue is possible on the polarising topic.
The production, by Civil Disobedience and Theatre of the Existential Void, begins with a cacophony of social media voices, but quickly becomes mired in tedium. Despite its promising premise, the play rarely delivers the fiery exchange of viewpoints it promises, instead offering mutual irritation and a lack of dramatic conflict.
Tom Longmire and Trelawny Kean deliver impassioned speeches as Rupert and Emma respectively, but these moments fail to ignite the drama. Laura Kay Bailey portrays Rowling as haughty and short-tempered, hindering any meaningful discussion. The play meanders through Rowling's troubled history with men and charitable donations, but fails to connect her liberal-minded persona with her divisive online output.
Piers MacKenzie's Daniel is as fractious as the rest, in a clunky production high on good intentions but low on impact. The play is more likely to incite yawns than outrage, missing the opportunity for a truly provocative exchange of ideas.
