HESS, Award-Winning One-Man Play About Rudolf Hess, Goes on the Road

The Gilded Balloon and Kinbur Productions are to revive the full-length version of Michael Burrell's award winning one-man play, HESS, a poignant and haunting production that has stimulated, moved and provoked debate, whilst also giving a fascinating insight into the nature of evil, retribution, repentance and forgiveness.

A hit of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016, directed by Kim Kinnie and 'meticulously' performed by Derek Crawford Munn, HESS will play at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, on 03 May and The Tolbooth, Stirling on 20 May before it heads to the Prague Fringe from 26 May to 3 June 2017.

In May 1941 Rudolf Hess, Deputy Fuhrer of the German Reich, bailed out of a plane over Scotland on a self-appointed mission of peace. He was immediately imprisoned and later, at the Nuremberg Trials, sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of conspiracy for war and crimes against peace.

HESS is set years into Rudolph Hess's incarceration in the infamous Spandau Prison. He supposes what he might say to an audience about himself, the Third Reich, and the world we have created since the downfall of the Nazis. Hitler's Deputy asks the question - how much has really changed? Is it really a better place to live?

By focusing on the essence of Rudolf Hess - the man, his beliefs, his delusions and even his sharp insights into the post war world, Michael Burrell's superbly written script paints a fascinating portrait of one of the last relics of the Third Reich and the times he lived in.

He deals with the universal questions of the nature of war and its aftermath, hatred, and racism, no matter at what period in history they take place. The recent EU Referendum and Brexit debate have opened up new arguments that encompass the very same issues that are raised in HESS; and the rise of Isis and the immigration issues facing Europe resonate throughout the production. The relevance to the attitudes towards George Bush, Tony Blair and the question of war crimes is also extraordinary.

HESS show information - http://gildedballoon.co.uk/hess-by-michael-burrell/