Review

Email this article

Lincolnesque goes for laughs over dogma

By Larry Knowles

August 14, 2006

San Diego--Lincolnesque, the world premiere play running at The Old Globe until September 10, is billed somewhat dryly as a play that “explores contemporary politics and the legacy of Abraham Lincoln.” The billing, however, is a bit misleading.

The play isn’t really about political intrigue or the legacy of Abraham Lincoln, themes that would be, frankly, pretty boring. Lincolnesque is instead a comedy, a well-paced, highly entertaining story of brothers who exasperate each other, adversaries who step on each other, and co-workers who spar—then sleep with—each other.

Set in contemporary Washington, D.C., Lincolnesque, written by John Strand and directed by Joe Calarco, centers on two brothers, Leo and Francis, the former a speech writer for a U.S. congressional candidate, the latter a delusional janitor who thinks he’s Abraham Lincoln.

Leo looks after Francis, all the while trying to come up with speeches compelling enough to get his candidate back in the race. Enter a hard-charging, ambitious campaign manager who calls out Leo as hack, and a few subsequent speeches that sound strikingly Lincolnesque, and you have all the makings of farce.

The comedy in Lincolnesque succeeds largely due to the casting. This is one of the few plays where every actor seems perfectly suited to and at ease in their roles. As a result, you have a confidence among the cast and chemistry between the players that allows for great comic timing. Everyone seems to be having a good time.

T. Ryder Smith, who plays Francis, is spot-on not as Lincoln, but as a nutcase who thinks he’s Lincoln. He has the stolid persona and deadpan delivery of a man who really believes he’s one of the great political figures in world history. He’s at once complacent and compassionate, bombastic and lithe.

Then there’s the voice. Let’s not diminish the importance of the voice in a character pretending to be a great orator. Smith speaks with a charcoal-filtered voice that adds gravity to his lines and credibility to his character.

Leo Marks does a fine job as Leo. Playing a self-effacing speechwriter with a laundry list of esteem issues requires a great neurotic energy and Marks sustains a mania throughout the play. You want Leo to chill out at times and get a backbone, but he’s a toady through and through and this never happens.

Magaly Colimon seems to relish the role of Carla, the man-eating, power-hungry campaign manager for the lame congressional candidate. Carla comes on like a freight train, all blind ambition, and a lot of fun comes out of her upbraiding and undressing the underling, Leo.

James Sutorius plays the dual roles of Stanton, Francis’ indigent friend and “Secretary of War,” and Daly, the brash king maker behind the man running against Carla and Leo’s congressional candidate. Sutorius was so convincing in the roles that some audience members believed they were played by separate actors.

The critique I have for the play is minimal, nitpicky stuff, reflective more of the playwright than the production. For example, Francis was fond of repeating variations Lincoln’s “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” The first time he threw out the line, it sounded insightful. The second time it sounded redundant, and the third time, just hackneyed. The repetition smacked of rote learning and undermined the premise that Francis was a sage operating on a higher level of consciousness.

Another nit: At one point, Francis throws a fit and Carla, to calm him down, adopts the persona of a servile negro and addresses him as “Mr. President, suhhh!” Carla suddenly subjugating her ego so wildly seemed odd and capricious.

But these critiques are splitting hairs, and as we all know, “A hair split against itself cannot stand….”

Lincolnesque

The Old Globe Theater

www.theoldglobe.org

(619) 234-5623

--------------------