FILTH

Sage Theatre / Calgary

By: From a novel by Irvine Welsh, adapted by Harry Gibson Posted: 10:09 PM CDT Sunday, Jul. 18, 2010

It’s a disgusting story of a racist, corrupt, homophobic Edinburgh cop whose itchy nether regions are becoming putrid and whose guts seem to be rotting.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.

It’s a disgusting story of a racist, corrupt, homophobic Edinburgh cop whose itchy nether regions are becoming putrid and whose guts seem to be rotting.

Read unlimited articles for free today:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/07/2010 (5568 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s a disgusting story of a racist, corrupt, homophobic Edinburgh cop whose itchy nether regions are becoming putrid and whose guts seem to be rotting.

What’s eating Detective Robertson? We won’t give it away. But if you can take the filthy language and graphic content, we promise you won’t see a better fringe performance than the fearless tour de force by Calgary’s Frank Zotter in this one-man work, based on a novel by Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting).

The stage-commanding Zotter takes the damaged Scotsman on a raw descent from a cocksure bastard into a tormented, coke-snorting mess consumed by demons. The actor slips skilfully into numerous other male and female characters.

It’s a disturbing but powerful 95-minute ride, relieved by touches of dark humour and glimpses of Robertson’s vulnerability.

Zotter’s work is five stars all the way, but the play goes over the top near the end, as Robertson’s deepest secrets are revealed. The final twists are too lurid, blunting the earlier sense that Robertson is a horribly accurate portrait of a macho Everypig.

— Alison Mayes

From the official Fringe Festival program:

“They say if you drink whiskey, you’ll never get worms. Wrong!" Frank Zotter stars in FILTH, a one-man tour de force that tells the story of a brutally sociopathic police officer and his tapeworm. Calgary’s Sage Theatre is proud to tour Harry Gibson’s adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s FILTH (author of Trainspotting).

"A pungent no-holds-barred production directed by Kelly Reay and starring the redoubtable Frank Zotter in perhaps his finest, most completely realized performance to date" – Calgary Herald