Review by Steve Bennett

It's either brilliant or terrible timing for Not The Messiah that the curious animated movie version of Graham Chapman's memoirs, A Liar's Autobiography, came out just six months ago. The film covered all the defining moments in the Python’s life (which diehard fans would have been aware of anyway), so this new production has to find a new way to tell the same tale.

And Tom Crawshaw’s cracking script does so with aplomb. For while all the key biographical details are there – witnessing his policeman father gather up limbs during the war, his time at Cambridge Footlights where he met John Cleese, his sexual awakening while on a supposed writing break in Ibiza, his battle with alcoholism, and his tragically early death – this skillful play is much more about shedding light on the man than regurgitating his CV.

That it succeeds so brilliantly is down to George Telfer’s solo performance that is nothing short of magnificent. Empathetic, playful and slightly headstrong as Chapman, he can manipulate your emotions between joy and sadness in the space of a comma. As the other characters, he offers a splendid Cleese impression and injects a perfectly judged measure of nonsense or brisk exposition wherever it is needed.

The fashion is for Python biographies to take a Pythonesque approach: as evidenced by the BBC's brilliant Holy Flying Circus, by that Liar's Autobiography movie, and by White Van Man writer Adrian Poynton, who won a Fringe First for his Chapman tribute A Very Naughty Boy in 2003. Indeed, Not The Messiah features Arthurian knights, comedy policemen, had-it-tough Yorkshiremen and officious army officers to warn us when things are getting too silly. But they are used sparingly and in relative context.

Even Life Of Brian’s 'He’s not the Messiah' line has an extra meaning here. As one if the few publicly gay men after homosexuality was decriminalised, Chapman became a hero for equality campaigners, even though it was a role he never sought.

The activists liked the fact he was a normal, if famous, gay man, happily ensconced in a stable long-term relationship (with David Sherlock). But his life was far from settled. His battle with the bottle is well-documented – even notorious hedonist Keith Moon couldn’t keep up – and he was devastated when a wayward young man he took in as an act of charity took his own life.

The profound impact of such events is incorporated in this mesmerising play, but within moments of a dramatic hammerblow, you’ll be laughing thanks to the ever-convincing Telfer making you experience every up and down. Chapman’s death is a tear-jerker; his life complex, but ultimately joyous. The same can be said of this remarkable play, which will surely have a life beyond Edinburgh.

Review date: 15 Aug 2013
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett