Surgeon’s Hall
Aug 22-26 (15:00)

In Tempore Opportuno

Moving, inspiring, memorable. Keith Alessi performs a powerful one-person show at the Edinburgh Fringe, unpacking his life’s journey to discover a deeper meaning. This is an uplifting piece about recovery and hope. “Every word of this is true” he intones, setting the stage for an hour of honesty and integrity.

The minimalism and directness achieved, in collaboration with director and producer, Erika Conway, has taken him to stages all over the globe and created an overall effect like a fireside chat – receiving wisdom from an elder. A refreshing change of pace and style to many of the shock-and-awe offerings that colour the Fringe, Alessi facilitates a profoundly contemplative journey, drawing on the power of simple truths to nourish you long after you’ve left the theatre. It’s not about getting a laugh from your belly, but rather a smile in your soul.

The initial mystery of how “tomatoes” factor in relates to his Italian heritage and he uses them as a potent symbol for the default programming drilled into him during childhood, which in his case caused him to live a less than fulfilling life. After a great wake-up call, the high levels of acid in tomatoes literally nearly killed him, which then metaphorically represents the high cost to living a switched-off life. The juxtaposition to what banjos offered him as a dual Canadian-US citizen, is manifestly dramatic and presents a compelling throughline as the spine of the show.

The audience were of the older demographic but this message is essential for younger or early-middle-aged folks and I wholeheartedly recommend everyone of any age should see it. “Why on earth didn’t I get my banjos out of the closet forty years ago?!” exclaims Alessi – a clarion call for young and old to start living as richly as you can. He gives us the taste of the sweetness on offer via the various interludes of banjo playing that punctuate the show. His love for the instrument positively lights the room, connecting you to feelings of nostalgia, tradition and humility. Confucious said that you live two lives, and the second one begins when you realise you only have one. This show bottles the grand arc of life and distills it down to the essence using words and music.

Alessi, an accountant by trade, shares that in common with my late father and I can’t help but think that this is the kind of show my Dad might have made had he made a turn to the arts and discovered a deeper passion to life. The Beatles lyric reads “and in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make” and Alessi’s ledger must be heavily in credit now. He enriches audiences all over the planet with a story built on simple truths, the same as good folk music. He’s an artist genuinely in the service of helping people find their best life and what a moving and inspiring project that is.

Stuart Bruce