Music Room Assembly Hall George Street 30 July – 24 August 2014 @ 4.05PM
Jane Fonda’s controversial effort to end the Vietnam War is one of the most divisive stories in American history. Peace activist or traitor? You decide.
Oscar nominated and Golden Globe winning actress Anne Archer will make her Edinburgh Festival debut starring as ‘Jane Fonda’ in the world premiere of THE TRIAL OF JANE FONDA, written and directed by seven-time Emmy award-winner Terry Jastrow.
The play focuses on a little-known event which occurred in Waterbury, Connecticut on 18 June 1988, where Fonda confronted a room full of hostile war veterans intent on boycotting the filming of her movie Stanley & Iris (co-starring Robert de Niro). Many of the controversial and polarising issues that had festered for years regarding Fonda’s activism during the Vietnam War surfaced during the course of this meeting.
John Sackville will play ‘Rev John Clarke’, the Episcopal minister who presides over the meeting. The group of Vietnam vets who air their grievances with Fonda in the room are played by a distinguished group of actors, including Jay Benedict as ‘Archie Bellows’, Darrell Brockis as ‘Larry Bonk’, Greg Patmore as ‘Tommy Lee Cook’, Ian Porter as ‘Buzzy Banks’, and Ian Virgo as ‘Donny Simpson’.
The most famous actress of her time, Jane Fonda was vocal in her opposition to the Vietnam War. In 1972 she went to the capital city of North Vietnam, Hanoi, to call worldwide public attention to the Nixon Administration’s cover-up of US policy of deliberately bombing the country’s vital system of dikes. During that trip she made radio broadcasts denouncing as a war crime the US use of antipersonnel bombs banned by the Hague Convention, and visited US POWs. On the final day of her trip, she was photographed laughing and clapping astride a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. This activity by Fonda caused enormous controversy and galvanized a huge hate campaign amongst the US military and supporters.
Writer and director Terry Jastrow did extensive research, including travelling to Hanoi to interview Fonda’s guides and interpreters, retracing Fonda’s steps, speaking to eyewitnesses, combing North Vietnamese libraries and film archives all in search of the truth. Jastrow interviewed Fonda herself on a number of occasions, as well as doing comprehensive interviews with dozens of war vets to ensure balance, accuracy and authenticity.
It is important to note that while Ms. Fonda has contributed time and information to ensure her story is told accurately, she has no creative input or veto power, has never read or seen the play, and has no participation in ownership or proceeds from the production.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
