Reviewed by Robin Breon
In
the program notes to Trying, written by the playwright, Joanna McClelland Glass, she states (almost as a
disclaimer): "I struggled with many drafts because, it seemed, at first,
that the only appropriate 'homage' would be to depict the man at the height of
his powers. To portray him arguing with Henry Stimson, Secretary of War, in
Roosevelt's Cabinet, or in a German courtroom confronting Goering or Hess or
Speer or Ribbentrop. But all attempts at historical biography ran aground on
the shoals of 'research'. "
Pity.
Glass's auto-biographical play about her professional encounter as the personal
secretary to Francis Biddle, Attorney General under Franklin Roosevelt from
1941 - 1945 could have been a great play. But make no mistake about it; what
Glass has come up with is a very good piece of work.
In
the fall of 1967, in Washington D.C., Glass was hired to work as Biddle's
private secretary. He was eighty-one at the time, memory fading with occasional
tantrums and with the end of his life in view: "exit sign's flashing -
door's ajar!" Biddle reminds us several times.
This
two-hander is a nice turn on the odd couple with the feisty young "prairie
populist" from Saskatchewan juxtaposed against the crusty old ivy leaguer
who was raised along Philadelphia's main line and graduated cum laude from Harvard law. Biddle, played
brilliantly by Paul Soles is a great role for a senior actor and Soles just chews
up every bit of it. "If you don't like my principles, I've got
others" says Biddle quoting Groucho Marx as he describes a lifetime
working in law and politics.
Caroline
Cave as the
secretary, Sarah Schorr, does very well with what she has been given. However,
the historical references - and they are indeed few - when they do appear seem
contrived and artificial especially when the character refers to the civil
rights movement in an effort to reveal how she feels about important issues of
the day. It comes across as more of a pronouncement than as genuinely felt
emotion.
Although
director Marti Maraden has done a generally fine job in her work with the actors it is a
mystery to me why she wastes so much time in superfluous scene changes on Christina
Poddubiuk's
lovely single set that captures Biddle's library/office perfectly. At the end
of a scene, the lights fade to black and stage hands are called into action to
generally clutter or unclutter the two desks. The changes don't advance the
action of the play or indicate a change in time or place and aside from being
disruptive to the dramatic pace of the play, are hardly noticeable once the
lights come back up.
Still
and all, Glass has written one of the finest new plays to come through this
year's season in Toronto. I place it right up there with Rick Miller and Daniel
Brooks' play, Bigger Than Jesus. Let's praise her for Trying.