In the depths of Charlestown, there is a small building reminiscent of an old abandoned firehouse. If you step inside, you'll find something rather surreal-the Charlestown Working Theatre. I suppose that's the beauty of fringe theater: You never know just where you'll find it. In the rather small quarters of this makeshift theater, there is a performance of an incredible play to be found.Bash, by Neil LaBute, is a series of three dark one-act plays. When LaBute first wrote Bash, also known as Bash: Latter-Day Plays, it was considered so controversial that he was disfellowshipped from the Church of Latter-Day Saints. Any theater company, Theatre on Fire in this case, deserves serious kudos for attempting to stage this show.

As you wait for the show to begin, all that can be heard is the chiming of toy-box music in the distance, setting an eerie tone for the show to come. The show begins with "Iphigenia in Orem," a father's testimony to a stranger in a Las Vegas hotel room of the events that changed his life forever. Marc Harpin's portrayal of Young Man is perfect from start to finish. He makes the audience feel compassion for this neurotic salesman one moment and despise him the next. In a one-man one-act play it can be extremely hard to maintain the audience's focus, especially when it is the first of the evening. Harpin does so with impeccable grace and flawless talent that makes him an absolute pleasure to love and to hate.

"Iphigenia in Orem" is followed by the two-person one-act "A Gaggle of Saints," which follows two Boston College students, John (Michael Underhill) and Sue (Emma Goodman), who return home to New York City for a swanky party with their old high school buddies. Each describes his or her perspective on the events of the evening, beginning with fairly similar views. As time goes on, John's outlook on the evening changes more and more as Sue maintains her innocence. This act had so much potential to carry over the heat and vengeance of the first act into an even more powerful second act. However, it seemed that Underhill and Goodman did not have the acting experience to accept such a challenge, as their characters came off as two-dimensional and plastic. Granted, John and Sue are very complex characters, and Underhill and Goodman were the youngest in the cast, so it was still a valiant effort on both their parts. I also believe that part of the fault of the scene rests with director Darren Evans. The staging was such that Underhill and Goodman's eyes kept crossing paths, making it appear that they were telling the story together rather than giving separate perspectives.

The final act of the evening is "Medea Redux," in which a middle-aged woman sits at a table in what appears to be an interrogation room or courthouse, giving her testimony. Woman (Kate Donnelly) tells her story of how she was seduced and impregnated in junior high school by her teacher. Her testimony is gripping and chilling from beginning to end. Donnelly successfully picks up any slack left by the previous act. Her nervous twitches of emotional distress were perfection, making hers the most memorable performance of the evening.

All in all, this performance was an interesting evening of theater to say the least. A small audience gathering to watch a few actors relish in a play wrought with murder, deceit and guilt -now that's what I call fringe theater.