Bette/Cavett, Grant Smeaton Presents –Zoo Roxy

****½ (4 ½ stars)

Since Frost/Nixon took the West End by storm the interview reconstruction has become an increasing phenomenon at the Fringe. You will have to look extremely hard to find a better example of this genre than Bette/Cavett . In 1971 talk show legend Dick Cavett interviewed ‘The First Lady of the American Screen’: Bette Davis. The audience are encouraged to watch in character, playing the part of the studio audience.

We are given a warm-up of trivia questions on the subject of Ms Davis and I feel slightly shamed by my lack of knowledge of a woman whose life and films I adore. Not perturbed by our ignorance, Cavett then introduces the icon herself. The audience is then treated to a hilarious, insightful and poignant hour of Hollywood anecdotes. The impressively naturalistic conversation is interspersed with some gloriously awful 70’s American advertising.

As Bette Davis mourns the passing of an era when cinema was more theatrical and writers were held in the highest of esteem, adverts for the cutting edge GE Tape recorders and the View Master intersect the dialogue. An interview set nearly 40 years in the past highlights our constant need to recall ‘the good old days’ before the movies became soulless and technology ruined everything.

The two performances are a joy to watch. Gordon Munro’s reverential and at times sycophantic talk show host is observed beautifully. Each tiny mannerism and interrupted sentence is perfectly measured.  Grant Smeaton dragged up as an aging Tinsel Town star may, at first, seem a disturbing thought; but this is not an impersonation of Bette Davis and nor does it aim to be. Instead Smeaton conveys the steeliness of a woman who took the Studio bosses and refused to conform to the system. There is also a certain wistfulness in Smeaton’s portrayal when the subject of Davis’ Yankee childhood is discussed.

It is difficult for us, in retrospect, to imagine the challenges faced by this unconventional beauty and her assertion that she was ‘not a box office person’. It is impossible not to have a massive respect for an actress who helped to define Hollywood’s Golden Age. A real high point of this year’s Fringe, Bette/Cavett is a thoroughly entertaining piece of afternoon theatre.

Zoo Roxy, running until 30th August, 3.05pm.

Sara-Jane McGeachy