Edinburgh Fringe 2025

RIFT

Luna Stage/Richard Jordan Productions

Genre: American Theater, Theatre

Venue: The Traverse

Festival: Edinburgh Fringe

Low Down

Review

While the politics of the alt-right and white supremacists are abhorrent to the vast majority of Americans, for some they’re very close to home. Gabriel Jason Dean’s brother is a self confessed member of the Aryan brotherhood and was jailed for multiple offences from murder to possession of cannabis. Dean’s new play draws on his personal experience to look at how different we really are, and where we can find common ground.

In RIFT, Inside Brother and Outside Brother  (the characters in the play are simply named Inside and Outside Brother – two sides of the same coin) share an impoverished and traumatic childhood. Now in adult life, Outside Brother is a progressive novelist writing about the politics of intersectionality while Inside Brother is incarcerated for murder and other offences. Over a series of tense prison visits, their back story and world views are gradually revealed.

RIFT is a well paced and sparky play, luring us in with humour and a lightness of touch to darker territory. Outside Brother hasn’t visited his brother for four years and this visit is in response to an attack on his brother, by other prisoners, which has led his brother to join an alt-right gang for protection. The first visit is shot through with humour as the brothers circle round each other trying to re-establish their relationship. In subsequent scenes, gradually more of their shared history is revealed and the dialogue grows darker as they explore the different paths they have taken.

Matt Monaco (Inside Brother) and Blake Stadnik (Outside Brother) are convincing brothers. Dean writes well about familial relationships as well as about ideological divides – these are brothers who know things only siblings can know about each other  – and who also know exactly which buttons to press. There is an intense physicality about Matt Monaco’s portrayal of Inside Brother – tightly coiled  and ready to explode. By contrast, Blake Stadnik’s Outside Brother is thoughtful and troubled.  They make full use of the stage as they hunt each other down and attempt to find connection, to find what is “Real, real” in their relationship.  Inside Brother tells Outside Brother “People may find me more relatable than they like to admit”.  This is a totally convincing portrait of two brothers who at one level share a deep connection while at another are in deep opposition.

Ari Laura Kreith’s direction is deft and unobtrusive. She pares back all the elements – design, lighting, sound – to create a claustrophobic atmosphere in which Dean’s writing and the actors take centre stage.

Against the backdrop of the backstage walls and door, a bleak and bare set represents the prison where Inside Brother spends his time and Outside Brother pays occasional visits. Between visits projections on these walls flash up the years going past, and during visits prison visiting rules appear. You-Shin Chen’s set design is functional but highly effective – a square black box where a prisoner counts out his days.

Lighting (Justin Townsend) is likewise kept simple – mostly black outs and full light, but with occasional slow fades. Again its starkness is in accord with the prison setting and adds to our understanding.

At a time where the USA, and so many other countries, are riven by division and the rise of the far right, RIFT doesn’t offer any easy explanations or easy answers; what it does offer is an unflinching and thoughtful look at what feeds the politics of the far right.

Above all, it’s a powerful call for radical empathy, for the power of listening – even when that’s uncomfortable – to find a way forward.

Published August 2, 2025August 5, 2025 by Clare Simpson