By Lucy Komisar
Rick’s Bar (at the Edinburgh Fringe) features a chanteuse in gold gown (Jerry Burns), a fine jazzy voice filling the room with “You must remember this… As time goes by.”
A guy in a white suit murmurs, “Here’s looking at you kid.” He is Rick Blaine (Gavin Mitchell), owner of Rick’s Café. It’s 1941 and we’re in Vichy-occupied Casablanca. (Morocco was controlled by colonial invader France. So, the Nazis did not occupy Casablanca, but were there at the suffrage of their collaborators.)
Captain Renault (Kevin Lennon), prefect of police, and Rick, his drinking buddy, manage to avoid taking sides. The narrative, of course, is gripping! But remember, this is a comedic take on the film.
A challenge comes with the arrival of Ilsa (Clare Waugh) who had an affair with Rick in Paris when she thought her Czech resistance leader husband was dead. He wasn’t and now they are in Casablanca where Laszlo (Lennon again!) seeks papers that will let him fly to America to support the underground and rally global opposition to Hitler. The U.S. was not yet in the war, not till December 1941.
So, here’s where a brilliant fast-paced comic take-off by writer-director Morag Fullarton, part homage, part satire, and always hoaky, comes in. Helped by a very talented cast playing multiple roles. It takes some spry directing to move actors on and offstage to change roles, though sometimes they just pull off jackets or shift direction to show different characters attired on right and left sides. Along with terrific voice changes.
Rick/Mitchell has a Bogie look, body moves and a slightly hoary voice. Renaud/Lennon, in exaggerated French accent (is the compleat opportunist.
Renaud: “I’ll be at Rick’s place.” Everything happens at Rick’s. Isla tells the piano player (Hilary Brooks), “Play ‘As Time Goes By’.” Rick is introduced to Laszlo. Rick recalls the Paris past. He is melodramatic. “Who was it you left me for? Laszlo or others in between?” Theatrical music. He throws down a drink.
Major Strasser of the Third Reich (Waugh) has a leather coat and a little Nazi flag. She will let Laszlo go free if he gives names. “If I didn’t give them in a concentration camp, I certainly won’t give them to you now.”
Ugarte (Lennon), who will provide the letters of transit, wears a red cap with yellow tassel and a Peter Lore style voice.
The highlight of course is when Germans in Rick’s Bar start singing the anthem “Fatherland” and Laszlo breaks in to lead the crowd in “The Marseillaise.” Fullarton smartly has him lift up large white boards with the lyrics so the audience can sing along. And of course we did!
Then the famous “I demand you have the place closed.” Gambling going on? “Your winnings, Captain.”
Rick, in beige raincoat and brimmed hat, has the letters of transit. Says, “I’m leaving on the plane with Ilsa.”
But there are still heroes. We learn that Rick fought in Spain against the fascists. Even Renaud has some hidden patriotism. There are the Free French.
“Here’s looking at you kid,” Rick says with squinty eyes.
With Mitchell as Rick, a singer and piano player, and all the others played by Lennon and Waugh, this wry homage ought to become as iconic as the original.
“Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut.” Written and directed by Morag Fullarton. At Ghillie Dhu, the Edinburgh Fringe. Runtime 1hr15min. July 30 to Aug 10, 2025. At Oran Mor, Glasgow, Aug 14 to Aug 24, 2025.