Wake Me In The Morning
Wake Me In The Morning
Oran Mor, Glasgow
Some things never get resolved with a certainty that stymies conspiracy theorists. Marilyn Monroe's death in August 1962 remains one of those debatable affairs. Did she commit suicide? Take an accidental overdose? Or did covert interference by some of the President's men silence her indiscretions with a mix of pills and bourbon?
Some 50 years on, we're not necessarily closer to an unassailable truth - but why does the untimely death of a 1950s screen icon so compel folk (and writers, especially) to pick over the bones of her final days?
In Jeremy Raison's three-hander, set amid the crumpled satin sheets of the Blonde's bedroom, the appeal seem to lie in the headlong collision between the public and private lives of two famous Americans who, for security reasons, don't really exist. Or at any rate can't be named.
Hence Monroe (Kirsty McDuff) is just the generic Blonde and her lover - well he cuts up rough when she keeps referring to him as Mr President. The Play, Pie and Pint programme lists him as Bull, and indeed his wham-bam! attitude to sex seems to justify the tag. But in Raison's imagination - and this is essentially fiction - Bill Wright's sharp-suited Kennedy appears willing to risk scandal for Monroe, until her craving for affection renders her a fragile, demanding, boozed-up loose cannon.
Well-focused performances from the cast - Ewan Donald is the fix-it brother in Kennedy's shadow - inject vitality into lines that (perhaps intentionally?) sound like out-takes from Monroe's screen roles. But the mystery isn't how she died - I'm keeping schtum - but why Raison wanted to turn conjecture into a Dallas-cum-Dynasty episode.
Sponsored by Heineken
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article