EdFringe Review: Terry’s: An American Tragedy About Cars, Customers and Selling Cars to Customers

I had high hopes for Terry’s: An American Tragedy About Cars, Customers and Selling Cars to Customers – it sounded like the sort of barmy, full-on theatrical adventure I tend to love. Well, thanks to Lecoq-trained company BRILLIG Theatre, that’s precisely what I got. What a hilarious, impressive, satirical, surrealist hoot!

Wes Anderson seems a strong influence on proceedings, but no more so than Pixar’s Cars franchise, David Lynch and Mark Frost, or indeed Mel Brooks. The result is a reality, one half-step away from ours, laced with absurd fantasy and musical numbers, but entirely relatable.

Out in the wilds of Thessaloniki, Ohio, Terry’s Cars and Automobiles is preparing for a big Memorial Day 1998 sale. Rarely seen tyrannical boss Terry has set the sales team a target of 66 sales – anything less and the business will be in the red! That happened last month, and traumatised but visionary manager, and former High School quarterback, Tom (Seamus Lavan) is determined it won’t happen again!

So it’s time to crack out the bunting, and for top-seller Sheila (Florrie Taylor), charming Henri (Zénon Malhaire) and new girl Kelly (Ellen Jackson) to step up and ABC! Always Be Closing! For Sheila, it means a chance to crack the top 100 sellers in the country, after finishing a respectable 108th last year. She’s on the phone like a whippet closing sale after sale. Henri, however, has hit a dry spot, so Tom collars him for an inspiring Matthew McConaughey-esque chest-beating chant of “Hub…Cap! Hub…Cap!”

“Wes Anderson seems a strong influence on proceedings, but no more so than Pixar’s Cars franchise, David Lynch and Mark Frost, or indeed Mel Brooks. The result is a reality, one half-step away from ours, laced with absurd fantasy and musical numbers, but entirely relatable.“

Then there’s Kelly, who inspires the first musical number, ‘Load the Lips!’ – and load them she’ll have to if Terry’s is to honour America’s fallen heroes by selling the cars! Once she does, it’s time for the big ‘I Am’ song, ‘Part of the Team.’ Only then is she worthy of the red, white and blue uniform, complete with stars and stripes visor, that marks her as one of Terry’s sales army.

The songs are actually pretty good (more memorable than some in the big productions in town right now), and the choreography, whilst clowned-up a little, is sharp as a tack. I don’t know how it would scale to a bigger space, but Terry’s has a definite touch of spectacle.

However, for all their vim and vigour, the team find themselves falling behind the 16.4 cars sold per day needed to meet Terry’s target. Sheila starts to flag, phone calls with her varsity athlete kid highlighting the life she’s missing, while Henri is distracted with preparations for his upcoming citizenship test. What about Kelly? Well, after her first sale, she’s hungry for more…

Tom, meanwhile, has to confront Terry (never seen, only addressed off-stage) and promise success or else…

The pressure rises and rises, sending Sheila into an existential crisis, and Kelly on a mad power-trip. The ads made for TV get barmier and barmier – they are a genuine highlight of the show – and Tom? Well, he gets a girlfriend, called Carol. Carol is a balloon. You will come to care for Carol. Poor Carol…

For all the craziness, the satire at the heart of Terry’s comes through loud and clear. The show exists within a capitalist hell similar to the one we all share. Selling is everything, everyone, and everything is expendable in pursuit of those sales targets. Brillig makes sure to highlight the variety of punishing consequences for the little guy.

Sure, the varying fallouts are pretty hilarious, and the team’s last-ditch strategy to meet the target is a triumph of theatrical fun, but the show doesn’t end on a chuckle, no, Sir. Indeed, if Terry’s didn’t big up the power of people supporting one another, it would be pretty bleak.

Instead, I’d say the show’s balance between light and dark is just about right. Make the end grimmer and Terry’s would leave a sour taste in the audience’s mouth; happier or, worse still, triumphant, and all that satire would be tossed away for a fairytale. Like Goldilock’s last bowl of stolen porridge, I’d say everything about Terry’s: An American Tragedy About Cars, Customers and Selling Cars to Customers is just right!