Political Theater
THIS IS A DEMOCRACY. Which means: the people make the laws. And if you want to make the laws, you go to the people who makes the laws, and what do you do? YOU BRIBE THEM. To trade this for that separates us from the lower life forms, like the, uh, uh, large apes, or the Scandinavians.
That is President Charles H.P. Smith, in David Mamet’s new satire “November.” Smith is played by Nathan Lane. One positive review is here. A less positive review is here.
What are the best political plays?
Comments
"But that didn’t stop the audience from providing a wall-to-wall laugh track."
I always wonder if they think it's funny because the tickets cost so damn much.
And it does star Nathan Lane after all. Isn't he _always_ funny?
Posted by: Susan Hedges | February 2, 2008 07:55 PM
For me it would have to be "Execution of Justice" --absolutely riveting, and wonderfully presented at the Arena Stage back in the days when they specialized in edgy stuff rather than Broadway musical revivals.
Posted by: Lee Sigelman | February 2, 2008 09:48 PM
I don't know if "The Crucible" is the "best" play or if people even consider it explictly political in that its characters are not elected officials or candidates. Certainly, Miller used it to critique the politics of the McCarthy era. At any rate, I remember reading it as a junior in high school and being moved by the injustice and, even if I did not conceptualize it at the time, coming away with the sense of why it's a good thing to make it hard for the government to convict people. Now, I'm thinking of the Delli-Carpini and Keeter finding that education increases support for civil liberties/tolerance. Am I remembering that correctly?
Posted by: Jason MacDonald | February 3, 2008 08:47 AM
Surely the Henriad: Richard II, Henry IV parts 1 and 2 and Henry V.
Posted by: Lance Knobel | February 3, 2008 11:07 PM