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Masthead
A CurtainUp Review
The Film Society
By Elyse Sommer
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". . .But my dear boy, this is one of those gruesome periods of re-adjustment, and no compromise, no discipline means no parent support, no Blenheim, no film society" — Headmaster Neville Sutter to assistant head Jonathan Balton who is trying to straddle the precarious line between the school's customary conservatism and the more challenging views held by his long time friend and colleague Terry Sinclair. |
L-R: Gerry Bamman and Euan Morton
(Photo credit: Carol Rosegg) |
The South African boys' school circa 1970 that serves as microcosm of the macrocosm of a still locked into Arpartheid society could easily make this a dated slice of history. However, Baitz's excellent writing and the well developed characters are still engaging.
I don't recall all the details about the 1988 Second Stage which featured Nathan Lane before he became a ticket selling star. I do, however, vividly recall leaving that theater elated at having discovered a new playwright who was both entertaining and stimulating.
When I saw the play again in 1997, it was a lavishly staged Williamstown Theatre Festival production. Though retaining the script's basic strengths, it was disappointingly flat-footed, even though directed by Roger Rees (currently starring in a Broadway revival of The Winslow Boy) and its cast included Cherry Jones (the sublime Amanda Wingfield in Broadway's latest and best ever The Glass Menagerie). That's why it's a pleasure to report that my third time encounter with Th Film Society, once again exhilarates more than it disappoints.
The Keen Company's home at Theater Row is small enough to immerse the viewer into the South African Blenheim School's world. Director Jonathan Silverman lets the first act meander along before it really gets going and the accents are British rather than authentic Afrikaner. But the cast is terrific, with a superb performance by Euan Morton in the pivotal role of Jonathan Balton. So while the collapse of Arpatheid Africa Baitz foresaw is past history and merely a colorful setting for the exploration of more general and still germane social and political issues.
The situation that serves as the dramatic arc is this: It's 1970 and Terry Sinclair (David Barlow), a reform-minded teacher, invites a black minister to speak to the parents of the boys at a private school in Durham, Natal Province, South Africa. The outraged reaction of the parents gets him fired and forces the school administration to make radical moral compromises to stave off bankruptcy. It's a final rip in the fabric of an institution that's already showing signs of decay its infrastructure and rituals of cricket and rigid grammar and penmanship coming apart — as is the case for the overall society (familiar to Baitz as a result of spending years of his boyhood in South Africa).
Terry's getting himself fired is the first step in what is essentially the somewhat belated coming of age story of Jonathan Balton. You see, the men are boyhood friends. Both are sons of well-to-do Afrikaner farmers and Blenheim graduates, but their friendship is tested by the the differences in their personalities and mindsets.
While Terry metamorphosed from ultra-Afrikaner bigotry to firebrand liberalism and marriage to the also liberal minded but more cautious Nan (Mandy Siegfried), the less intense but charming Jonathan, has always been sensitive. He is still unmarried, displays signs of sexual ambivalence and is completely apolitical. His charm and charisma notwithstanding his hopes of becoming a radio actor came to nothing and his wealthy and powerful mother (Roberta Maxwell) probably had more than a little to do with his getting a post as a teacher at Blenheim, as well as his closeness with the school's head, Neville Sutter (Gerry Bamman).
Sutter supported the film society Jonathan set up for the boys as an extra-curricular activity. However, all is not smooth sailing for the club. Sutter supported its launch as a good strategy for bolstering the weak enrollments but he wants Jonathan to balance his selections with more educational parent pleasers. And so he does. Adding a once a week travel film to his preferred choices is easy enough. Remaining true to his old ties to Terry and Nan proves far more difficult.
Jonathan, Terry and the play's other four characters represent the various clashing political mind styles: the conservatives who wants to preserve the status quo; the reactionary idealist who wants things to change; the cautious middle of the road s thinker who will support change only if it doesn't antagonize the old guard and weaken his position; and the chameleon who's confident that he can have it both ways. Even as a still unseasoned playwright, Baitz was able to avoid the trap of having all this make his characters come off more like symbols than real people — and so do the actors now portraying them.
Euan Morton doesn't look like Alan Cumming but has a similarly irresistible charisma. Like Cumming, he started out in musical theater and has demonstrated a similar talent range. This is on full display in his portrayal of the affable but insecure and not especially competent Jonathan Balton. Morton, and Baitz's script, make this grown-up boy-man's final choice between practical opportunism and heroism totally believable.
David Barlow's Terry expertly reveals the complexities of a man whose heroic rebel stance is actually an outgrowth of being raised with a can-do sense of superiority. Like Jonathan, the draw of that still powerful world makes it hard to resist compromising firmly held ideals.
Mandy Siegfried is fine as Terry's supportive wife Nan who loves her husband but wants to hang on to her job since she's loathe to leave Durban and her family. Being basically of the same political persuasion as Terry she nevertheless ends up giving a class lecture that's sure get her fired as well — unless Jonathan is willing and able to risk his own future.
The role of Neville Sugger is played by Gerry Bamman an actor who could give master classes in projecting clearly whatever the accent. He's as usual, at the top of his game as the headmaster. His Sutter epitomizes a man who believes in rigorous but humane standards but is above all is committed to the survival of the institution he founded.
But as Sutter's interchange with the wealthy and manipulative Mrs. Balton makes clear that his innate decency and humanity has not shielded him any more than her from the anti-Semitism that was integral to this society. Thus when she wants to seal his agreement to make Jonathan his successor, his response is "must we negotiate like Jews?" She responds in kind with a reference to her obviously Jewish accountant "Mr. Cohen." Roberta Maxwell invests Mrs. Balton with all the self-assured entitlement bred into top of the heap Afrikaners like her.
The 1970's time frame makes the death of the political climate driving Baitz's plot still some years in thee future. However, there is the immediate death of one of the school's old timers Hamish Fox (Richmond Hoxie)to add a tribute to the virtues of clear thinking and good penmanship via a farewell speech by the departing Fox. It's a small part but Richmon Hoxie makes it one of the play's most poignant scenes.
Scenic designer Steven C. Kemp has divided the wide stage into three minimally furnished playing areas with a rather too obviously symbolic backdrop of frayed African fabrics and a crumbling Union Jack. Jennifer Paar's costumes, Solomon Weisbard's lighting and Palmer Hefferan's sound design round out the unfussy but overall effectiveness of this production.
The compromises faced by Blenheim School's Sutter are different from those confronting principals at today's American public schools. Their teaching curriculums must be adjusted to under funding and a constant demand for test results to validate their school's existence. Blenheim School's "loss of boys" has its counterpart in children switched from public to private and charter schools. But Balton's futile attempt to straddle his middle-of-the road stance between conservative and more forward looking mindsets, is hardly an issue limited to schools.
But for all these issues, this is not a polemic. Nor does it surpass Mr. Baitz's more successful follow-ups like Substance of Fire and the more recent Other Desert Cities. But it is an interesting, and remarkably fine stepping stone to the work of one our best and consistently interesting living playwrights.
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The Film Society by Jon Robin Baitz Directed by Jonathan Silverstein ast: Euan Morton (Jonathan Balton), Roberta Maxwell (Mrs. Balton), Gerry Bamman (Neville Sutter), David Barlow (Terry Sinclair), Richmond Hoxie (Hamish Fox), Mandy Siegfried (Nan Sinclair). Sets: Stephen C. Kemp Costumes: Jennifer Paar Lighting: Solomon Weisbard Original Music and Sound: Palmer Hefferan Props: Ricola Wille Dialect Coach: Gillian Lane-Plescia Stage Manager: Justin Elle Running Time: Approx 2 2/2 hours with one intermission. Keen Company at the Clurman Theater 410 West 42nd Street From 9/10/13; opening 10/01; closing 10/26/13 Reviewed by Elyse Sommer at 9/28/13 press preview |
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