Anyone familiar with Edgar Wright’s 2010 classic Scott Pilgrim vs the World will also be familiar with the concept of defeating seven evil trials to achieve freedom. I’m not sure how large the crossover is in the Venn diagram of people who have seen both Scott Pilgrim and The Silly William Gambit, which admittedly are targeted to different demographics. Considering how much I enjoyed both, though, I think this crossover should expand.
The seven games of chess in The Silly William Gambit are played between the eponymous Silly William and a neighbour in his train compartment, the nefarious Bum Fiddler. Both characters are played by the sharp, talented Matt Bader. His energetic commentary of the games is infectious, and the audience are left with no choice but to be gripped by the beauty of his strategy. Surging through Bader is a violence which shows the truth of his early declaration: “chess [is] a mimicry of warfare.”
Despite claiming he is “not a chess man,” Silly William knows a lot about chess. Luckily, the audience are reassured that they do not need to follow the games which are illustrated on the television at the back of the stage. The moves it is necessary to understand are clearly, but not patronisingly, explained. Every game, Bum Fiddler sets up the scholar’s mate: a technique to achieve checkmate in four moves. The titular gambit, central to the play, is Silly William’s unique method of combatting the scholar’s mate.
Punctuated by these games of chess, Silly William provides anecdotes which compile into his life story. The structuring of the play, though somewhat verging on repetitive, was purposeful to a satisfying end. From his early education to burgeoning adulthood to the sudden death of a close friend, chess and silliness remain central to William’s conception of the world. Matt Bader guides the audience through this with unyielding emotion and intense passion (and some screaming which left me concerned for his vocal cords).
While every show at the Fringe has been crafted with care and hours of research, The Silly William Gambit takes this to the next level. Each audience member is given a pamphlet including cast details, a note from the director, acknowledgements, and a poem. Each chess move within the show was laboriously selected by Bader. Each key moment of Silly William’s life is taken from the true life of chess champion William Graif, whose closing voiceover about his friend Connor, who passed away, is a poignant end to the play. It is clear that this play means something to a lot of people.
Heartfelt points aside, I can confidently say that my screen time on chess.com is about to vastly increase.
Image courtesy of Kyle Watkins, provided to The Student as press material.