Stage: The trials of Harvey Matusow

The true story of a McCarthyite supergrass written and performed by Robert Cohen at The Dukebox Theatre

“The thing about Joe McCarthy – the thing they never tell you – is this: Joe McCarthy was a son-of-a-bitch, but he was the nicest son-of-a-bitch you ever met.”

Amid the bitter divisions of early Cold War America, Harvey Matusow was a uniquely unifying force – left and right found common ground in their hatred for him.

Initially a keen communist, Matusow switched sides, spent four years working as a paid government informer, then set the cat among the stoolpigeons by admitting that almost all the evidence he’d given (for bodies such as the FBI, HUAC, the US Justice Department and, of course, Senator McCarthy’s Government Operations Committee) had been false.

So what motivated this communist-turned-anti-communist-turned-anti-anti-communist? Was it money? Was it fear? Or was it simply that Harvey Matusow was a man more for our time than his – a man willing to do anything in order to be famous?

Writer-and performer Robert Cohen is reviving his £5 Fringe hit from January at the new Dukebox Theatre.
The Trials Of Harvey Matusow, Thursday 10–Friday 11 January 2013, 8pm, £5, Dukebox Theatre, The Iron Duke, 3 Waterloo Street, Hove, BN3 1AQ, 01273 734806, See the trailer at www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNj1EV_G0h4

STAGE: Fright Christmas
Last year Theatre Royal Brighton surprised the city by booking Spamalot as their Christmas offering. There was dissent, of course, from traditionalists, and I count myself as a traditionalist. But at the same time I had not thought that the pantomimes of recent years had cut the mustard, and I did know that Spamalot was a good, all round family show.

ATG’s decision proved to be a sound one and the success of that show proved that audiences were ready for change. This year we have a celebratory new tour of The Rocky Horror Show, not quite as family ready maybe, but still a good rollicking fun night at the theatre, and box office figures are showing that once again, audiences are ready for change. I will be there, not dressed up in corsets and boas I promise, but I will do the Time Warp – again!

The Rocky Horror Show, Theatre Royal Brighton, Thursday 20 December 2012 to Saturday 5 January 2013. Box office 08448 717 650, www.atgtickets.com/brighton