Mark Twain Tonight
At TheaterWorks
By: Karen Isaacs - Aug 24, 2025
Richard Thomas is giving a master class in active stage acting in Mark Twain Tonight!. Every gesture, expression, and pause contributes to the performance and the meaning of the material. He and director Michael Wilson have mined the depths of Twain and brought him to life. Wilson, the former artistic director of Hartford Stage, had directed Thomas multiple times during his appearances at Hartford Stage.
It is fitting that Richard Thomas begins his national tour of this play in Hartford. After all, Twain (Samuel Clemens) lived in Hartford for 15 years and called Hartford the most beautiful city; his home (The Mark Twain House) on Farmington Avenue attracts thousands of visitors each year.
Mark Twain Tonight! is the one-man show originally put together by Hal Holbrook in 1954. Thomas was granted permission to use this version.
Twain was known for his satire, humor, and often darker view of mankind and its plights. The performance I saw talked about slavery and threats to democracy.
The Holbrook play wasn’t a set piece, but rather a collection of stories and anecdotes that Holbrook – and now Thomas – can mix and match, keeping the production fresh and adapting to circumstances. Twain was not just an author; he was also a seasoned performer and curator of his own image. His lecture tours, which were the impetus for Holbrook’s play, supported his family for years.
Thomas is an anomaly among actors today, having said that he loves to tour. He was on the road with To Catch a Mockingbird, starring as Atticus Finch, for two years. Connecticut residents saw him both at the Bushnell in Hartford and the Palace Theater in Waterbury. He also has a long connection to Hartford, having starred at Hartford Stage in News productions, including Hamlet and Ibsen’s Peer Gynt.
During the show, Thomas takes on the persona of other characters. The first is as Twain tells the story of a character who tends to never complete a story because the man keeps going off on tangents. The second, he becomes Huck Finn, telling us about himself.
The latter third of this 90-minute show reminds us that Twain was not just a storyteller and humorist, but also a keen observer and supporter of democracy. The Gilded Age, a period in which Twain lived, was a time when multi-millionaires of the era took advantage of citizens and the lack of government oversight to amass massive fortunes and gain significant political influence and control. They weren’t called Robber Barons for nothing. In this section, Twain makes pointed comments on democracy and monarchy, including the triumph of monarchy over democracy. This was obviously unfamiliar Twain to many of the audience because you heard some gaps as he made his points.
The set is simple, making it easy during the tour, which will commence in Maryland following the Hartford engagement. Brain Prather has created a chair, a table with a lamp, a lectern with two American flags, and a rug tying them together. Sam Fleming’s costume suggests the popular image of Twain in a three-piece, slightly rumpled white linen suit.
If you did not see this at TheaterWorks, hope that Mark Twain Tonight! and Thomas return for another stop in Connecticut.