Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – The Collateral Damage of Getting Things Done (or the US Two-Party System)

• By drediman
• May 16, 2014
• No Comments

Change is a bitch. This is especially true of American politics in the modern era. This season, two solidly-built new American plays effectively dramatize the painful swings of the pendulum that is American politics over the last half century. The plays in question are the Bryan Cranston Broadway vehicle “All the Way” by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan (he won the Pulitzer for his epic “The Kentucky Cycle”), and the Off-Broadway family drama “The City of Conversation” by Anthony Giardina starring Jan Maxwell in sensational form. Individually, each of these plays serve as powerful depictions of the unfortunate collateral damage, political and personal, necessary to force change within our political system. Seen together in immediate succession, they provide a unique panoramic view of the tectonic shifts of our two-party system since the 1960s.

“All the Way”

Set just after President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Schenkkan’s muscular, play-by-play “All the Way” shows President Lyndon B. Johnson’s efforts to pass the civil rights bill, while successfully campaigning for his first-term presidency. The play effectively illustrates LBJ’s forceful, almost bullying, tactics to ensure the legislative passage of the sweeping Civil Rights Act of 1964, one of his first major accomplishments as president (and riding on the momentum of JFK’s social agenda). To do so, LBJ, deliciously played by Bryan Cranston with Shakespearian grandeur, musters both his mastery of the legislative process and intimidating personality to seemingly will the bill to pass. What’s unclear, at least initially, is the damage such blunt tactics would have on the US political system (however, admittedly, who knows if the bill would have passed in the first place without such forceful guidance). The play shows the bridges LBJ burns within his own Democratic party in order to pass the bill, setting up what is to be the rise of the two party-system as we recognize it today. Hence, his landslide win against Republican Barry Goldwater for the presidency at the play’s conclusion doesn’t come across as completely celebratory. One gets the feeling that there will be a backlash to his political dealings (especially from his political foes), causing the political pendulum to swing in the other direction. “All the Way” is the first of two plays chronicling LBJ’s turbulent presidency. The second play, “The Great Society”, premiers at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival this summer, and depicts LBJ’s elected term as president as he fights for further social change (his “war on poverty”) amidst the chaos of the Vietnam War.

“The City of Conversation”

One of the finest new plays to open this season in New York is Giardina’s compelling “The City of Conversation” (hopefully, we’ll get a Broadway transfer of the current excellent Off-Broadway production sometime in the near future). The play begins in 1979 in the waning days of the Carter administration, during which time the pendulum is preparing to swing in the direction of conservatism and the rift between Republicans and Democrats is becoming increasingly wide. This makes things more difficult for liberal-leaning Hester Ferris, who is best known for hosting Georgetown dinner parties at which both parties come together to civilly discuss issues. On top of this, Ferris finds out that her son and his fiancé are uncompromising Reaganites.  As a result, Ferris, played sensationally by the elegant Jan Maxwell, finds herself having to make the impossible decision of either siding with her son over her liberal politics, or double-downing on her political activities at the good risk of losing relations with her own son. Ultimately, Ferris chooses, in her view, the larger good and continues to fight for her liberal political beliefs and is excommunicated by her son and his family. Three decades later, on the night of Obama’s inauguration (again the pendulum set to swing in the other direction), we see the personal cost of that decision — Ferris is almost unrecognizable as her former passionate, vivacious self. In her stead, there is a stern, bordering on bitter, old lady who has has committed her life to a cause larger than herself at the cost of losing herself. As the play ends, Ferris is paid a visit by two men which perhaps redeems her life, or perhaps the visit comes too little too late. It’s a beautifully ambiguous, bittersweet moment (which I don’t want to spoil for you), and I found myself in tears as the curtain came down.