Fiddler’s Green: A Drama on Reaching Truth on a Stop in the Middle of Nowhere

Harrison Heller and Tommy Kraft’s Fiddler’s Green, written by Heller, is a 15-minute introspection exercise for its protagonist, Charley, guided by the clear-headed nudges of a bartender in charge of a watering hole in the middle of nowhere. An allegory which willingly reveals its hand before the game is over, its plot thrusts Charley into a position where giving into vulnerability and honesty is the only way to avoid keeling over into the same stagnation that seems to ail the other patrons.

The title is borrowed from the bartender, Fiddler (Callie Bussell), a commanding presence and the fulcrum of the story. Charley (Elijah Noble El) easily trusts her, enough to excavate himself for her. She pays attention with the persistence of a therapist. El pulls off his character’s balance of self-respecting principle and self-loathing born of mistakes and channels it into a long due, hard earned unburdening—a confession even, with the amount of guilt he harbours.

It is a sombre scene, periodically interspersed with and eventually fully interrupted by the presence of a femme fatale type, Lucy (Lucie Gillespie). Unlike the other patrons, a haze of brown in the brown background, Lucy takes an active role in her environment and an active interest in newcomer Charley (for a middle of nowhere stop, the bar is peculiarly peopled by regulars). Dressed all in red as though for a spotlight only she can see, Lucy is all sultry speech and temptation. And a pointedly ill-suited interference in Charley’s improvised confession about his failings as a husband. There is even a family photo on the counter.

Then again, interruptions are part of the narrative here. Surprise intrusions become a frequent occurrence, distant images and unruly customers alike. Charley simply cannot brood over his drink in peace—a luxury afforded not even to the other, quieter customers, who collectively project an air of aimless passivity even from this distance where they are indiscernible figures, part of the décor. The lighting does a lot of the heavy-lifting for the story both in and outside the smoky confines of the bar.

For Charley the only way out towards peace is through satisfying his interlocutor. He must talk—something that a character like this is programmed to avoid—until Fiddler has had the full picture of what he is made of.

Fiddler’s Green uses both obfuscation and seduction only as tools or a façade for the actual business of introspection to the ends of the earth until you have seen yourself with unclouded eyes and weighed the worth of your future to determine whether you will even have one. Charley’s mistake may have been waiting too long to get around to it.

Watch Fiddler’s Green Short Film