Spin by Zeitgeist Stage Company
A Presidential Campaign Comedy
By: Larry Murray - May 02, 2008
A Presidential Campaign Comedy
Written by Robert William Sherwood, Direction and Scenic Design, David J. Miller, Assistant Director, Megan Atkinson, Lighting Design, Chris Fournier, Costume Design, Jenn Martinez, Sound Design, Walter Eduardo, Stage Manager, Deidre Benson.
Cast: Jerry, Steven Barkhimer, Elizabeth, Melissa Baroni, Henry, Peter Brown, Alexandra, Christine Power, Mary, Elisa MacDonald.
Zeitgeist Stage Company at the Plaza Black Box Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston 617-759-8836, through May 10. About 2 hours, 5 minutes.
"Spin" a two act comedy by Robert William Sherwood is a very clever slice-of-political-life. The playwright has a remarkable ear for the language of campaigns. As a Canadian playwright living in London one has to wonder how he came by it. Unlike Gore Vidal who wrote "The Best Man", he never ran for office. While the satire is a wonderful treat it is comprised, like most of contemporary politics, of tasty but ultimately empty calories. Many will be relieved to know that this play is not a polemic, nor a fable with a lesson to learn. It is simply politics as entertainment. How totally American.
Much of "Spin" is hilarious, with wave after wave of laughter. I loved lines like: "Fanatics don't vote. They shoot people, but they don't vote." When it turns to the scandal du jour, it has elements of a mystery and becomes an intricate political chess game.
The production as directed by David Miller for the Zeitgeist Stage Company is brilliant, edgy, funny, and full of surprises. Miller is one of Boston's best, and his willingness to tackle verboten and unconventional works not only deserves praise but attention as well.
The story. We join the campaign of Henry Champlain (Peter Brown) as it builds toward an important debate and primary. He is 16 points ahead in the polls, largely due to his frenetic campaign manager Jerry (Steven Barkhimer) and pollster Elizabeth (Melissa Baroni). In bursts the opposing campaign manager Mary (Elisa McDonald) with the warning that a scandal of epic proportions is about to destroy their candidate. She only reveals that it involves three letters, S E X. Then she offers them a deal.
The dueling campaign managers let the invective and ultimatums fly with staccato speed and full energy. This is dangerous in a theater as small as the BCA's Black Box, where the audience is never more than a few rows from the actors. There is an incredibly jaw dropping moment when we are so close to the sparring that it feels like we could easily become their next target. The rich language contained so many devastating personal insults that I felt as if I was in the middle of an internet flame war that had come to life.
Such writing and acting made me wonder if the author was channeling David Mamet, and the ensemble on stage that of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, known for its rock and roll style of acting. Only the calm hand of director David Miller kept the repartee from sloshing over the top of the imaginary wall separating audience and performers, and kept the campaign managers from actually grappling on the floor as they exchanged their painful barbs.
Following the exchange it is left to the pollster, Elizabeth to calm down Jerry's caffeine jangled nerves. Soon after we meet Henry Champlain and his wife, Alexandra (Christine Power). He appears to be a hollow human being, mumbling about "doing good" and listening distractedly as Jerry tries to get to the bottom of the rumor. The initially stoic and prim Alexandra begins to unravel as the plot thickens, and by the second act the twists and turns leave you wondering what is the truth and what, indeed, is spin.
The acting is universally superb, with Peter Brown and Christine Power as the candidate and his too-perfect wife evolving from neutral ciphers into real people, or at least as much as they dare let show through their carefully crafted political images. Beyond the sex scandal, another game is being played out as the wife encourages her husband to be more of his real self.
"Since when has Harry started to think?" asks the astonished campaign manager. "We have talk shows for that."
Peter Brown looks every inch the part of a perfect candidate, though the playwright does not give him much of a chance to demonstrate the skills of one. Brown plays him to perfection nevertheless, serious, stoic and careful not to offend anyone. In the second act, Christine Power as the wife gets down into the mud with the rival campaign manager, and bares the pitbull that underlies her once perfect wifely facade.
Elisa McDonald as the opposing campaign manager Mary bobs and weaves as befits a ruthless adversary. This is a role that is done so well I think it alienates just about everyone in the audience. Yet underneath the vitriol I sensed that she was actually trying to find a happy way out for both parties. Without a third act, it is hard to tell where her manipulations might have led the play.
The role of Jerry is a middle-aged actor's dream role, one in which he is given license to chew up the scenery as the deranged campaign manager. The brilliant Steven Barkhimer doesn't just nibble it either, he swallows it whole! From the moment we first meet him until the lights go down two hours later he is in overdrive. His jangled nerves and racing mind combined with a dirty mouth make him the very model of a contemporary political force.
In act two, Barkhimer has a blazingly fast and speedy soliloquy that is delivered without a fumble. To watch his face redden, and his shirt dampen as his harsh words are delivered with rage and revulsion is to be reminded anew of the tremendous skills and deep reservoirs a good actor needs to make a role succeed. Barkhimer wrung every last drop of feeling from his lines, and delivered an actor's tour-de-force. I will remember it for a long time.
Melissa Baroni, the final member of the acting quintet is equally deserving of praise, and her calm characterization of Elizabeth the pollster was the needed antidote to Barkhimer's overwrought Jerry. It made me wonder if the playwright had James Carville and Mary Maitland in mind when he created the roles of the two campaign operatives.
Two other characters are featured in the play, though we never see them. Jerry's wife of many years shows up between acts to deliver divorce papers. Barney, the doorman and bouncer is often mentioned, but never appears either. Their inclusion did little to advance the plot or fill out the characterizations.
The stage design was simple and utilitarian, like so many campaign offices are, with mismatched furniture, overflowing waste baskets and dozens of boxes of files. I did find one design omission distracting. The coffee cups scattered all over the stage clearly had never seen a drop of coffee, nor had the files scattered about ever been handled or read. It is a shame that there is no such thing as "method" set design to make sure every production detail is believable. I have no doubt many authentic and grimy coffee cups were discarded throughout rehearsals only to be replaced by the sterile ones on the set.
The costumes were perfect, they looked so natural I didn't even think of them until now. The lighting, a difficult task in a theater with such a low ceiling, was handled with aplomb.
Finally, when the laughter dies down, and the play nears its ending, Henry Champlain finally picks up the phone that has been ringing, unanswered, throughout most of the play. It is a wrong number.
The play itself ends ambiguously, and I just wish that final phone call had been a final plot turn to wrap up the evening more neatly. In politics as in life there are few perfect endings.
http://www.ZeitgeistStage.com