Playwright: Howard Brenton
and David Hare
At: TimeLine ( sic ) Theatre Company
Phone: ( 773 ) 281-8463; $22
Runs through: March 26
Authors Howard Brenton and David Hare use the stage as a political weapon, just as it was intended to be. In his most recent work, Sir David Hare created a devastating satire of the Bush and Blair collusion over Iraq, and Blair's subsequent disillusion. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you, the Blair government handed Hare his knighthood.
Pravda, dating from 1985, burlesques the take-over of the stately London Times newspaper by Rupert Murdoch, and his efforts to dumb down a great institution. Beyond that, the play explores the cozy connections between politics, industry and the presumably-independent ( but not really ) Fourth Estate. Pravda—Russian for truth and also the name of a Soviet newspaper—is set during the rampant capitalism of Thatcher-Era England, but its ramifications are current and even local: the Chicago Sun-Times also was gutted under Murdoch ownership, and devalued even more under Murdoch's now-disgraced successor, Conrad Black. The current brouhaha over White House press credentials issued to a fraudulent, Republican-affiliated plant ( with gay internet porn connections ) underscores how politics can suborn the press, even when publishers are not knowingly involved.
Pravda—both the play and especially this production under always-astute director Louis Contey—is very, very funny, as much a British door slamming farce as it is a comedy of ideas. You're sure to laugh even if you don't quite follow the ins-and-outs of plot and politics. From the character names paying homage to Shakespeare ( Scroop, Quince, Le Roux ) and P. G. Wodehouse ( Elliot Fruit-Norton, Ian Ape-Warden, Cliveden Whicker-Baskett ) , to the send-up of critics ( the drama critic is first seen dead drunk lying under a desk ) , to the swipe at an inebriated Princess Margaret, to the methodically mad Murdoch figure ( Le Roux, played with manly brio by David Parkes ) Pravda sparkles with mordant wit and plot surprises. If it goes on a squidge too long and if, cynically, the bad guy wins at the end, well, that's because he's the smartest and most ruthless fella' onstage, just as Karl Rove has proven to be in domestic politics. Power and success are their own rewards, Pravda posits, and exist quite apart from particular values or issues. The corruption of the hero, an idealistic and naive young editor played with boyish charm by PJ Powers, drives the point home.
The large, energetic ensemble, most of whom play multiple roles, is sparked by Terry Hamilton as Le Roux's muscle, Scott Kennedy as a prissy traditionalist, Fannie Hungerford as the hero's love interest and co-idealist, Brendan Kelly as a corrupt politician and Larry Baldacci as several upper crust yobs. Designer Brian Sidney Bembridge impresses again with scenery that echoes ( perhaps unintentionally ) Westminster Great Hall, a black corridor overprinted with screeds of white typography.