Kim Carson as Anna-Lisa and Conan McCarty as George
(Photo credit: Seth Rozin)
Lee Blessing’s latest political drama, When We Go Upon the Sea, offers a fascinating yet fanciful premise: former president George W. Bush’s lonely evening in the Hague the night before his war crimes trial begins the next morning. Receiving its world premiere production courtesy of Philadelphia’s InterAct Theatre Company as part of 59E59 Theaters’ Americas Off Broadway Festival, When We Go Upon the Sea has been given an elegant production by director Peter Meshejian. Unfortunately, the play offers neither an apology nor a defense of the administration of the 43rd president.
The problem may simply be that Blessing raises false expectations that he does nothing to fulfill.
Although Bush has been both dramatized and parodied many times in the past (Sir David Hare’s Stuff Happens, Oliver Stone’s W, etc.), Blessing’s low-key prototype portrayed by the near look-alike Conan McCarty is neither arrogant nor self-justifying. He is simply out of his depth with sophisticated Europeans, in this case the concierge or major-domo of his luxury VIP suite where his every wish is a command, and a beautiful young lady brought in as a relaxationist or possibly masseuse, or read ultimately, prostitute.
Bush who is to appear before the International Court the following day has arrived alone at a five star hotel used to visiting dignitaries. Piet (played by Peter Schmitz) has been requested by Bush from a recommendation by a former unnamed American visitor to the hotel for his impeccable service. Proving his champion right, Piet proceeds to spend the play catering to Bush’s every whim, including those he hasn’t asked for. Alcohol, cocaine, sex are all offered and partaken of in varying degrees, while the actions that may have landed the former president in this situation are lightly touched upon.
Bush propounds that he did what the American people wanted him to do. Piet tells the history of European imperialism that he calls “going upon the sea” which gives the play its name. He seems to imply that Bush has only been following in a long-honored tradition. Anna-Lisa (Kim Carson), who appears at Piet’s request to help Bush relax, tells a horrifying tale of her experiences in Eastern Europe before coming to democratic Holland and the apparent safety of the hotel.
We wait for Bush to react introspectively to what he has been told, but to our frustration he appears to listen intently and reveals nothing. Piet and Anna-Lisa’s reiterated insistence that they are there only to serve appears to be a metaphor for those who made the Bush administration possible. However, hardly any of this suggests how author Blessing feels about the 43rd president.
Beginning in drawing-room comedy style as the guest and the major-domo feel each other out in the posh surroundings where everything is possible, the play descends into the surreal with red lighting as the games become serious and the evening suggests an American Walpurgisnacht. It all ends right back where it started the next morning with the two men observing the peaceful view of the sea from the hotel window before the former president is driven off to meet his fate.
There is some satire of W. as Piet tries to explain that his name is spelled the same way as Mondrian and Bush identifies the word with wallpaper. Bush very much loses his cool when Cheney is given credit for his so-called accomplishment. However, for the most part the play remains respectful, comedic, and ineffectual considering the opportunity the premise offers for an investigation into recent American and international politics.
Schmitz with his cool, cheerful demeanor which never changes except for an arched eyebrow every so often walks off with the play in a way the author cannot have intended. When Carson enters and begins her seduction of Bush she too becomes the center of attention. McCarty is both amusing and amused as he parries each subtle attempt by Piet and Anna-Lisa to provoke a reaction. His frowns and furrowed brows are his best expressions as he deals with each new topic in a conversation that he can’t seem to control.
Visually, the play could not be bettered for its drawing room style. Meghan Jones’ sitting room suite in beiges and ivory with touches of both dark and light woods is a masterpiece of color integration in earth tones. Rosemarie McKelvey’s costumes from business suits to evening dress to uniforms to plush white bathrobes could not be more elegant. The subtlety of both the setting and the direction is reflected in Tom Weaver’s lighting which smoothly dims as the evening grows older, then shifts to a vision in hell, and then back again to its soothing recessed lighting even as morning dawns over the continent.
Possibly, Lee Blessing is saying that Bush is incapable of real introspection whether it is over Iraq or the sins of his youth. Or else he might be offering an opinion that when you go pillaging across the oceans, you are responsible for your own actions. In any case, When We Go Upon the Sea is like an elegantly prepared repast that at evening’s end leaves you hungry for a meal of steak and potatoes.
When We Go Upon the Sea (through July 3)
InterAct Theatre Company at 59E59 Theaters, 59 E. 59th Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, call 212-279-4200 or http://www.ticketcentral.com