[NEohioPAL] November Review: Cleveland Jewish News: Fran Heller

[Martin Friedman]

Political satire right on money 
by Fran Heller - The Cleveland Jewish News
November
November conjures images of turkeys and presidential elections.
The play "November" by premier American Jewish playwright David Mamet skewers both in a political satire that is LOL funny, timely and savvy. It's at Lakeland Civic Theatre through Oct. 16.
Director Martin Friedman pulls out all the stops on this fast-flying comedy, less than two hours long including intermission, that breezes by from laugh to laugh. A spirited cast, featuring veteran Cleveland actor Robert Hawkes as the fictional President Charles Smith (from Shaker Heights, no less!), holds the hilarity and the pungency in perfect balance.
It's November in a presidential election year, and incumbent Smith is up for re-election. With an empty war chest and "ratings lower than Ghandi's cholesterol," the prospect of another term looks grim.
The play opens as the casually dressed president, in golf shoes and gloves, is swinging a club while his chief of staff informs him it's time to pack up and go home, without even the prospect of a presidential library. You need two things to win an election - a pile of money and an idea - says the president's lawyer and confidante Archer Brown (Andrew Narten).
Enter the Turkey Gal (Abigail Grace Allwein), whose organization, the National Association of Turkey Manufacturers, will put up the money if the president will pardon a pair of turkeys in the annual promotional event.
The idea hails from presidential speechwriter Clarice Bernstein (Anne McEvoy), who urges her boss to do something pure. Bernstein, a lesbian, has just returned from China, where she and her partner adopted a baby. She wants the president to marry them on national television. The president's tirade against the ambitious Chinese is priceless.
Nothing escapes the playwright's withering sarcasm: from Iraq and Iran, political corruption and torture, to Jews, Arabs, Native Americans and women. Mamet's politically incorrect and profanity-laced language is salted with a keen observation of politics as we know it.
The play premièred in January 2008, at the end of the Bush era. Any similarities between the former president and the stage character are not entirely coincidental. But more than a roast of any particular president, the play is about the corruption of a political system in which money is the chief player.
Keith Nagy's setting of the Oval Office is a knockout, from the book-lined shelves and fireplace, to the handsome furnishings and a view of the Capitol from the window.
With a face suspended in perpetual befuddlement, scratching his brow in an effort to think, or barreling through his office like a bulldog, Hawkes is perfect as the racist, sexist, homophobic and dimwitted president. Phones ringing off the hook (William Amato's pinpointed sound design) capture the frenzy of the Oval Office. The president's long, obscenity-laced and unbroken monologues are delivered over the phone with utter naturalism by Hawkes.
Narten is excellent as cynical, behind-the-scenes advisor Archer Brown, silently orchestrating like a ventriloquist what the president should say. In ideal chemistry between the actors, even when sitting on the sidelines, their facial expressions and body language are in perfect sync with the president.
The outrageous play is a laugh a minute. When the Turkey Lady refuses the president's efforts at extortion, he turns to the pork people, decreeing that Americans will now eat pork for the holiday instead of turkey. As for the Jews, the president asks, "Do the Jews even celebrate Thanksgiving?"
McEvoy is excellent as the bespectacled speechwriter, constantly sneezing and blowing her nose. Instead of a concession speech, Bernstein writes a lofty one filled with platitudinous ideals that stir the president into fighting for a second term. In exchange for the speech, the president must promise to marry the two women.
When Bernstein shows up in costumer Harold Crawford's gorgeous wedding gown, Smith forgets his promise. Meanwhile, the Turkey Gal won't fork over any money if he marries two lesbians. The sexy and attractive Allwein is true to type as the turkey rep trying to swing a deal.
Joining the fracas is Dwight Grackle (Robert McCoy), an Indian chief on the warpath, accusing the president's ancestors of stealing his tribe's land.
The play is a welcome escape from fractious politics and a reminder that in such divisive times, the best thing to do is laugh.
The abrupt ending made my husband wish for more. I agree.
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