1 Small Lie: Martin Dockery ★★★★

Solo shows are acts of creative seduction, and occasionally of controlled deception. In 1 Small Lie, which just finished its run at The Wild Project as part of the New York Fringe Festival and heads next to the Montreal Fringe Festival, Martin Dockery proves adept at both, keeping a firm, almost mischievous grip on his audience.

The premise is simple and classic: a lie, told early, refuses to stay small. One questionable choice leads to another, and then another, until — well. Think A Simple Plan, or the elegant moral free-falls of Fargo — both the film and the television series. Dockery’s ingredients are just as bluntly cinematic. A deer struck by a car. The driver still inside, barely conscious. And in the back seat, a duffel bag stuffed with $800,000.

In case there’s any doubt, someone comes looking for that cash.

The drama unfolds while Dockery is staying with his wife and child at his godmother’s cottage in Montauk — a Hamptons hamlet already dubbed “The End,” which here feels less like a nickname than a warning. Next door is Julie, the beautiful neighbor who trades pleasantries but little else. Her husband disappeared without a trace, and the good people of Montauk, sensibly suspicious or not, now keep their distance.

1 Small Lie has no script, strictly speaking. It’s just Dockery and a text built alongside a created soundtrack, the music serving as both score and metronome. The music runs 58 minutes, and so does he. It’s a neat constraint: storytelling on a soundtrack.

The one hitch is mechanical. Dockery occasionally has to adjust the lighting via his phone — eight lamps and a Chinese lantern shifting mood in real time. The pauses are brief but noticeable, pulling against the otherwise smooth forward motion like a foot lightly tapping the brake. Intentional rhythm or unavoidable interruption? Hard to say. Either way, the story barrels on, gathering momentum until it reaches its inevitable end — like Montauk itself.