The production is now transferring to the West End’s Playhouse Theatre this February for a limited run, so no excuse not to see it!
Details here: Playhouse, londontheatres
The Best Man, Gore Vidal’s play about American Presidential politics couldn’t be more timely, given the recent election of Donald Trump. The play written in 1960 and is on all week at the Richmond Theatre and is as relevant today as it was 57 years ago. That’s largely because it was written by one of the most outstanding writers of the 20th century. Moreover Gore Vidal was born into the Washington elite, his father worked for Franklin Roosevelt and his mother was the socialite daughter of a Democratic senator. Her second husband went on to marry the mother of Jacqueline Kennedy, who Gore got to know. So he is that rare combination of a great prose stylist and a political insider.
The Best Man dramatises the eternal conflict between power and morality. Set in a hotel room at the 1960 Democratic Party Convention the play starts with the entry of Secretary William Russell (Martin Shaw) and his campaign manager – an Alistair Campbell-esque spin doctor, Dick Jenson (Anthony Howell), pursued by the press shouting questions and flashing camera bulbs. The feeling of being hunted relentlessly by the press is powerfully brought home. Bill Russell comes tries to answer the questions in an urbane and rational manner but his replies go over the heads of the baying press who want juicy gossip, not political philosophy. Russell quotes the philosopher Bertrand Russell (surely a deliberate nod to his namesake and hero?) in one of his replies and as the press are ushered out by the worried Dick Jenson, clearly concerned that his candidate is coming across as too intellectual, Russell says write about me “warts and all”, and when the press pack look blank, he has to tell them that he is quoting Oliver Cromwell when having his portrait painted. So from the start we have a picture of Russell as a fine upstanding philosopher intellectual, but someone who seems uncomfortable with the hurly burly of political campaigning and especially dealing with a press pack who want quick one liners. Martin Shaw is very good as Secretary Russell getting the tone of a liberal patrician just right. Anthony Howell as Dick Jenson is perfect. Clean cut in a sharp suit, he is the modern professional spin doctor to a tee. Having ushered the press pack out of the room, he turns to Russell and says pleadingly “ did you have to quote Bertrand Russell?” Here we have a foreshadowing of the conflicts that will envelop Russell later in the play.
The Best Man shows us politics on different levels. The use of the hotel room is a brilliant way of taking the audience, as it were, backstage, to areas usually out of bounds. So the hotel suite is where we see the candidates drinking and talking in private, planning their next public moves for the press and the delegates. The entry of Alice Russell (Glynis Barber) wife of Bill adds another layer to the plays themes. She and Bill haven’t been a couple for years but she has agreed to pretend for the sake of his Presidential nomination. We get an insight into the way in which the demands of politics alters personal relationships. They both agree to play pretend happy families. There has been no sex between them for years and when Bill says that the fires of autumn burn low, Alice replies nonchalantly “oh I’ve been cold for years”.
A quick scene change and we are back in the same hotel room but now it’s occupied by a rival candidate Joe Cantwell (Jeff Fahey). No accident that he has the same initials as Jesus Christ. Joe Cantwell is a cross between Richard Nixon and Donald Trump. He is a populist not an intellectual. He is a Southern and proud to be a man of the people who hasn’t been to Harvard University. He is a self-made millionaire and a very religious man. When asked about Martin Luther he replies “I know who Martin Luther is, I happen to be a protestant”. In contrast to Russell he has simple solutions to complex problems. He is ruthless and will do whatever it takes to get to the White House. His wife Mabel (Honeysuckle Weeks), is a tour de force. A petite blonde with a winning southern accent, she unashamedly wants her man to win at all costs. She plays up to the press, revels in having her photo taken and flatters all and sundry to advance her husband’s campaign. She knows she is an ornament but she is a willing performer in this role and she knows it can get her to the White House where she will be the First Lady.
The play turns on a dilemma. Each candidate has some dirt which destroy the other. Cantwell that Russell had a nervous breakdown and is therefore “mentally unstable”. Russell that Cantwell had homosexual experiences in the army in 1944. Will they use this or not? I won’t reveal here what they decide. See for yourself when you see the play. It’s a classic dilemma and gives The Best Man a momentum that kept me gripped until the denouement.
There are two performances that round out The Best Man and give it colour and comedy. The first is from Gemma Jones as Mrs Gamadge. Surely a pun on damage? A grand dame of Democratic politics based on Eleanor Roosevelt, who Gore knew very well, Mrs Gamadge is Dickensian in her outspoken and direct style. She reminded me of Sheridan’s Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals. She is utterly delightful. Her performance and especially her outrageous remarks are a highlight of the evening. For me the standout performance was from Jack Shepherd as the ex-President Art Hockstader. Someone who has seen it all before, he shuffles around the room like a wounded animal moving from the drinks cabinet to the sofa and then out of the door in a routine of comic brilliance. His body gestures match his words in a seemless dance macabre. He tells Russell that to get elected in America you must pour God over everything “like Ketchup”. It is one of the great performances on the stage to be seen anywhere and worth the price of admission alone. Anyone who loves great comic acting ought to see Jack Shepherd in this role. He is beyond praise.
Hats off to director Simon Evans and his team for bringing this important and very timely play to life for us in 2017.
Superb.
