CONTINENTAL DIVIDE till 4 April

MOTHERS AGAINST, DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION: David Edgar
Reviewed at Birmingham Rep, 13 March
Playing Barbican, London, 20 March 4 April 2004 (Tkts 0845 120 7515
Both run 3 hours, one interval

Review: Rod Dungate

Thrilling, mind-blowingly thought-provoking, a company revelling in the debates
The arrival of David Edgar's two plays, both commissioned by American theatres, in the UK with their US companies is a unique event. It's also one that's thrilling, absorbing, sharply witty and mind-blowingly thought-provoking. He sets his plays in the lead up to elections for State Governor, one from the Republican and one from the Democratic point of view.

Edgar is the foremost of our political playwrights more than that, he's also a formidable political thinker and analyst. His insights stem not from the stance of disinterested observer but from the head and heart (yes, heart) of an individual who has spent years personally, intimately involved in political activism. There is in Edgar, I think, a passionate belief that you can (should/ must?) work to make things better, that we owe it to others, and ourselves, to do so. In the cynical age we live in today it's fashionable to believe that politicians and those around them act out of self-interest. This cynicism is fed, of course, by a truly cynical media, entirely out of self-interest. But those who spend time with politicians (as Edgar does) know that politicians, in the main, are driven by a desire to change things for the better (though we may have disagreements about what 'better' is.)

It's this passion that drives the characters in these plays; this passion that makes the plays' political debates and speeches dramatically gripping and challenge us intellectually. All the more so since the desires for change for the better may be black and white, but the better itself and the ways of achieving it are blurred, complex, fraught with pot-holes and trip-wires. In the US system, as Edgar shows us, the difficulties are all the greater since, in this country of free-market capitalism, money talks; it also makes the need to succeed even greater.

Edgar writes plays though - not (here at least) essays. All his debates are argued out within a human context. In his imagined context he sets both candidates a problem; how do they deal with Prop 92 proposed legislation that requires new and re-registering voters to sign what is effectively a new oath of loyalty. This is an issue that has become hot since a Latino policeman has recently shot and killed an unarmed eco protester chain sawing GM trees. (The questions are, Is the shooting right or wrong? and Is the eco 'warrior' loyal or disloyal?) The Republican, Sheldon Vine, instinctively feels that Prop 92 is wrong (which will lose him votes among Latino voters and Republicans instinctively believe Prop 92 to be right), while the Democrat who should be against it is tempted to support it, not just to gain the votes but because it's what she believes is right.

There are two plays here and any attempt to outline the plotting further will confuse: I'll merely say that Edgar deftly weaves two integrated but completely separate scenarios without once stretching our beliefs beyond breaking point. The Republican play, MOTHERS AGAINST, looks more at personal integrity and the ability to hold on to it in an increasingly manipulative system. The Democrat play, DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION, looks more at belief, truth and our shifting views on it as we pass through life and our circumstances change.

Good American acting is always exciting to watch and this is a strong, strong company.

Bill Geisslinger plays Republican candidate, Vine, in Mothers; his direct acting style enables us to believe in his inherent honesty, while his passion, when it comes through, in all encompassing. I liked, enormously, too, Robynn Rodriquez as his wife, Connie so cool, so elegant, so charming but with a spine of steel that is always evident.

While Mothers centres around one family and, more or less, one setting, Daughters leans more to the epic in form. Terry Layman plays Michael Bern. He's a teacher in a community college about to take on a prestigious government job. He's also trying to find out if he still has the ideals he felt passionate about in his youth, and if he does how best does he pursue them. His quiet, gentle passion leads us gently through a tempestuous tale. Outstanding in this play is a section among tree-dwelling eco-protestors. Faintly foolish they may be but, by the end of this poignant section, how seriously we take them in all their beautiful naivete.

Tony Taccone directs with great clarity, ensuring the whole is dynamic throughout. Most important of all, the entire company revels in the debate.

Mothers Against
Caryl Marquez: Vilma Silva
Don D'Avanzo: Michael Elich
Connie Vine: Robynn Rodriguez
Vincent Baptiste: Derrick Lee Weeden
Deborah Vine: Christine Williams
Mitchell Vine: Tony DeBruno
Sheldon Vine: Bill Geisslinger
Lorianne Weiner: Susannah Schulman

Daughters of the Revolution
Michael Bern: Terry Layman
Abby, Beth, Branflake: Michelle Duffy
Ryan, Pat, Snowbird: Christine Williams
Jools, JC, Rainbow, Bob LeJeune: Jacob Ming-Trent
Elaine, Ash, Connie Vine: Robynn Rodriguez
Ted, Jimmy, Nighthawk, Sheldon Vine: Bill Geisslinger
Arnie, Ira, Eddie, Mitchell: Tony DeBruno
Bill, Troy, Zee, Don D'Avanzo: Michael Elich
Kate, Yolande, Hoola Hoop: Vilma Silva
Dana, Trina, Aquarius: Marielle Heller
Jack, Darren, Sam, No Shit: Craig W Marker
Blair Lowe: Lorri Holt
Rebecca McKeene: Melissa Smith
Kwesi Ntuli: Derrick Lee Weeden
Lorianne Weiner, Firefly: Susannah Schulman

Director: Tony Taccone
Scenic and Projection Designer: William Bloodgood
Costume Designer: Deborah M Dryden
Lighting and Projection Designer: Alexander V Nichols
Sound Designer: Jeremy J Lee
Composer (Mothers Against): Todd Barton
Assistant Director: Randy White

2004-03-14 21:20:13