AEGiS-WSJ: Political But Not Preachy

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Political But Not Preachy

Wall Street Journal - January 6, 2006
Terry Teachout, tteachout@wsj.com.

New York - What is political theater? Sometimes, as in the case of such relentlessly preachy exercises in agree-or-you're-evil propaganda as "Guantanamo" or "The God of Hell," the answer is painfully clear. While these plays may be presented in an artful way, they typically use art as little more than a means to a political end, and thus tend to be both unserious and unpersuasive. On the other hand, it's perfectly possible to create a serious work of art that is informed by politics. Heather Raffo did it in "Nine Parts of Desire," her beautiful one-woman show about life in Iraq, and now Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter have done it with "In the Continuum," a play whose subject matter -- the effect of AIDS on black women in Africa and America -- would seem at first glance to be wholly unpromising.

AIDS is notorious for bringing out the worst in issue-oriented playwrights, which is why I passed up "In the Continuum" when it opened at 59E59 last October. On paper it sounded like a parody of everything I like least about political theater, and it was only at the emphatic urging of friends whose taste I trust that I caught the show, which has since transferred to the Perry Street Theatre, one of Off Broadway's most attractive performing spaces. They swore it was a must-see event, and sure enough, they were right. Ms. Gurira and Ms. Salter, a pair of bewitchingly dynamic performers, could make any play watchable, but "In the Continuum" isn't just any play: It's an earthy, startlingly funny portrait of two pregnant women, an upper-middle-class TV anchor from Zimbabwe and a promiscuous ghetto teenager from Los Angeles, whose lives are turned inside out when they learn they're HIV-positive.

Structurally speaking, there's not much to "In the Continuum," which consists of two loosely interwoven strings of vignettes. (It began life as two separate one-woman shows, and Ms. Gurira and Ms. Salter interact only at the beginning and end.) What makes it fly is the sharp-eared portraiture of the script and the bubbling vitality of the acting -- plus a complete absence of heavy-handed sermonizing. "In the Continuum" is not a 10-point party platform disguised as a play. All it does is introduce you to Abigail and Nia, two very different women whom AIDS has put in the same boat. As you get to know them, you realize they're people, not stick figures or statistics, and you find yourself drawn into their lives, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

"In the Continuum" has been extended through Jan. 28, but the Perry Street Theatre is small, so don't wait to see it. Danai Gurira and Nikkole Slater are stars in the making, and I expect it won't be long before you'll have to fork out a lot more money to see them in a much larger theater.

***

Harold Pinter gave up playwriting for preaching many years ago. The most recent of his sermons, the hate-America-first rant he delivered last month after receiving the Nobel Prize for literature, was so cringe-making that it undoubtedly led many younger playgoers -- including more than a few who share his extreme views -- to wonder whether he was ever any good. To them I suggest a trip to the Atlantic Theater, whose double bill of two one-act Pinter plays, "The Room" and "Celebration," has been extended through Jan. 21. It isn't perfect, but it's still a worthy introduction to the Pinter who matters.

Written in 1957, "The Room," Mr. Pinter's first play, is a ferociously dark portrait of a fearful working-class couple who are hiding from the world in a shabby one-room London apartment. Their plight can be interpreted as a commentary on life in class-ridden England, but it's strictly implicit: We're left to draw our own conclusions. "Celebration," written 42 years later, is a sketch about the fathomless vulgarity of the well-to-do patrons of an expensive restaurant. Though Mr. Pinter's contempt for the British middle-class is all too evident in his portrayal of the ambitious diners, he manages to keep it under reasonably good control. Both plays are acted a bit too broadly, but the performances are generally effective.

Mr. Pinter's Nobel lecture began with a memorable assertion written not by the preacher but the playwright: "Truth in drama is forever elusive. You never quite find it but the search for it is compulsive." Alas, Preacher Pinter now believes himself to be in possession of the absolute truth about the world today -- he thinks the U.S. under George W. Bush is as evil as was the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin -- which helps to explain why it's been so long since he wrote anything worth reading. The author of "The Room," by contrast, knew that such one-size-fits-all thinking is ever and always the death of art. He's the Pinter we'll remember.

***

Mr. Teachout, the Journal's drama critic, blogs about theater and the other arts at www.terryteachout.com.

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