McReele
WHAT do you think when you read a spruik for a show that quotes a review from elsewhere? Do you think: hmmm, that sounds fantastic, must book? Or: I wonder what the rest of the review was like?
The Ensemble’s latest production, McReele, is an off-Broadway play from 2005 by Stephen Belber. One of their selling lines is:
“Like John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt, it scrutinises moral certainty and the suitability of a man to hold a position of power and influence.” –Variety.
Wow. So Variety reckons it’s like John Patrick Shanley’s very successful and very good Doubt. That would be a reasonable assumption, don’t you think? Actually, the review reads like this …
”Stephen Belber’s new play McReele has a lot on its mind: truth and honesty in public and private life, media manipulation, faith in the judicial system, the packaging of a political persona, redemption from past disgrace. Like John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt, it scrutinizes moral certainty and the suitability of a man to hold a position of power and influence. But ... Belber's play rarely musters more than a dim echo of that far superior work’s bristling tensions, remaining instead a talky, only faintly absorbing examination of poorly articulated issues.
”As in his Match, Belber again constructs an emotionally volatile situation and fails to sink his teeth into its dramatic possibilities in any satisfying way. Unlike his earlier, pithier Tape, scribe rambles inordinately, his moral and ethical questions never fully coalescing into urgent human conflicts. There’s also a certain strain evident in the convoluted rant’s bid for provocative political currency, not to mention naivete in its shocked recoil at the standard compromises and deceptions of an election campaign.”
My response to the play tallied with Variety’s. On the other hand, the Ensemble audience reaction suggests they would have agreed with another spruik, from ”Edge”, a gay and lesbian news and entertainment website out of Boston, Massachusetts. Its reviewer, Carol Drewes, absolutely adored McReele – much more than the line the Ensemble is running actually reveals: “Simply put this show is a rush … Go. Laugh. Think. Wonder. Agree. Disagree. Question. Go again to grapple with the torrent of ideas and emotions unleashed …”
Crikey! Did Carol love it or what? Here are more chunks of Drewes’ enthusiasm, “ … McReele is devilishly well written, a unique Rubric’s [sic] cube of straightforward plotting and excruciatingly funny, often surprising conversations, exhortations, and debates from intelligent, flawed men and women at the bottom and top of our society. Its prisoners, journalists, politicians, lovers, and parents will keep you puzzling long after the mesmerizing enigma that is Darius McReele strides smiling into his future … It moves, it flows, it breathes, and the actors and script flourish. So go. See this play.”
Then, lest you require further convincing of the class of the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre production ...
”Why? Because it’s about what matters: class, church and state, the death penalty, the environment, energy, race, the media, politics, prisons, honesty, hope, and humanity, written in accessible but elevating language. If you vote or if you don’t, if you’re a news junkie or shy away from prime-time manipulation, if you think there’s hope for this country or not, if you’re liberal, conservative or in the middle, go. Just go. If you’ve never before been to a play, go ... Because this is as good as it gets: an absolutely top-notch production full of ideas, fantastic language, interesting characters, and humor.”
And on it goes. (Read the entire review at www.edgeboston.com and search for McReele to experience the true definition of fulsome praise.) So what do you believe? And does anyone pay attention to selective (very selective) quotes any more anyway? Or reviews, for that matter.
In my opinion McReele is entertaining, sometime compelling, often funny and occasionally thought-provoking. The basic premise is one that Belber has visited in previous plays and poses a series of questions that go, Is he or isn't he? Will he or won't he? Will they or won’t they? Have we been suckered or what?
So far, so much fun. Darius McReele (Kenneth Ransom) is a charismatic, smart, African-American autodidact who’s been in a Delaware prison for murder since he was 17 years old. He has protested his innocence all along. Rick (Ben Ager), a reporter on the local paper, comes across his internet writing and visits him in prison. DNA evidence being what it is these days, Rick is quickly able to secure McReele’s release.
As luck would have it, Rick is connected to the local Democratic machine – despite much agonising about objectivity – and after brief scrutiny from the Dems’ bigwig (Gary Baxter in one of three small but telling appearances), Darius is groomed for Senate candidature.
Familiar? In case you’re wondering, McReele was first staged in New York in February 2005. Barack Obama was elected Senator for Illinois in January 2005. He was already a rising star following an electrifying keynote address at the Democratic Convention in July 2004. Nevertheless, aside from the obvious, plus charisma and big ideas, there is no resemblance between the presidential candidate and Darius McReele.
The Sydney cast does its best with the uneven and somewhat unwieldy script. And in a play which is about truth and honesty, they have understandable trouble bringing conviction to characters whose motivations and methods are all over the place. Kenneth Ransom has an unenviable task. He has to deal with a mass of verbiage and must deliver “inspirational” ideas and speeches which are either hokey or daft. That he does it with charm and some assurance is an achievement. As the run continues he may settle better into the awkward speechifying.
Pamela Jikiemi makes a good fist of McReele’s feisty, sassy wifeOpal who is not at all keen on her jailbird selling out to Whitey and running for the Senate. One of the most illuminating moments in the play is hers when a puzzled Rick asks her why she is so antagonistic towards the idea. “You married him when he was in prison,” he says. Opal fixes him with a stiletto glare. “Yeah, but he wuz on Death Row.” It’s a chilling yet funny insight into thwarted expectations.
Rick also has a girlfriend, Katya, a TV political show anchor (Ivy Mak). Too young to be a credible Ali Moore on the one hand, Mak seems insufficiently experienced to deal with the credibility gaps in her character, on the other. It’s not her fault though and she should be marked as “one to watch”.
Mark Thompson’s set is an odd mixture of a couple of huge, hurdy-gurdy, Stars & Stripes banners hanging either side of an abstract structure that doesn’t really convey any of the prison visiting room, apartments, TV studio and restaurant requirements. The Ensemble isn’t an easy space to decorate or work but it would be interesting to have a designer such as Fiona Crombie (who totally transformed the equally tricky Wharf 1 for The Great) bring some fresh ideas to the place.
The same goes for the direction of the show by Sandra Bates. It doesn’t seem to grapple with the cumbersome shape of the scriptand, at times, leaves the actors looking physically awkward and adrift. Perhaps the wordiness of the script (a huge learn and technical demand for the cast) and the distraction of putting it all in varying degrees of American accents have meant the production arrived at its opening week under-done.
Nevertheless, McReele is perversely entertaining for much of the time and the audience loved it.
McReele, by Stephen Belber; Ensemble Theatre from July 11-August 16; ph: 9929 0644 or www.ensemble.com.au. Director: Sandra Bates, Designer Mark Thompson, Lighting Designer Matthew Marshall. Cast: Ben Ager, Gary Baxter, Pamela Jikiemi, Ivy Mak And Kenneth Ransom.
