Bill Review

Bill Review

3rd – 22nd December 2024

You will probably have heard the theory that the moon landings were faked or that the 9/11 attacks were set up by the CIA or that people quite regularly get abducted by aliens. But would you recognise the name of the man who has done more than anyone else to spread these stories: Bill Cooper?

With terrific energy, inventiveness and wit, the talented Red Fox Theatre Company has set out to make sure you do by telling the bizarre and complex tale of the man who was the conspiracy theorists’ ultimate conspiracy theorist.

“…the bizarre and complex tale of the man who was the conspiracy theorists’ ultimate conspiracy theorist”

On an evocative set at the Omnibus Theatre on Clapham Common, where clocks with hands, a two reel tape recorder and big telephones indicate we are back in the pre-digital age, the four actors slip in and out of a myriad of characters, changing hats, accents, mannerisms and styles in a whirlwind of action and song.

Red Fox call their method “chaos theatre” and specialise in telling true stories designed specifically for people who don’t usually go to the theatre. They are not afraid of tackling thorny subjects – founded in 2018, their first show, Catch of the Day, told the tense history of Anglo-Irish relations.

‘Bill’ is their second creation and the story is equally hard to navigate, not least because some of  Cooper’s beliefs were so outlandish, such as that US President Eisenhower did a deal with visiting aliens allowing them to abduct humans in exchange for their technological know-how. But it is worth telling because many of his ideas are followed today by the likes of anti-vaxxers, Q’Anon and those who believe a powerful secret elite controls the world.

The performers start off doing a great job of sketching the forces that shaped Cooper, both personal in a disrupted childhood and the Cold War times he grew up in where US paranoia sometimes found expression in stories of UFO landings.

But then things get complicated as Cooper joins the Navy, sees UFOs of his own, serves in an intelligence unit which he claims gives him insight into state secrets about alien visitations, and spreads his theories via lectures, radio broadcasts and books. 

Three signs on stage, marked ‘true,’ ‘quote’ and ‘unsubstantiated,’ which light up as appropriate, go some way to guide the audience through the maze. But I found Red Fox often sacrificed clarity to zany entertainment gimmicks and I had to do a lot of Googling afterwards to work out what the heck had been going on.

The best scene was when the actors donned bits of material to indicate skirts and with skilful wit related the stories of the women in Cooper’s life who experienced him as a charismatic charmer who morphed into a controlling abuser.

But I felt uncomfortable with the way they habitually portrayed followers of Cooper’s beliefs as merely gormless hicks. With Trump and his MAGA crew in charge for the next four years, we need a more intelligent appraisal of why ideas which seem bonkers to most of us still find such widespread traction.

Gill Swain

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