Murder -- and humor -- in the White House Murder -- and humor -- in the White House (September 24, 2004)

Palo Alto Players kicks off its season with a timely satire

By Susannah Greenwood

Picture this: six middle-aged Caucasian men with receding hairlines, conservative suits and power ties. Equipped with notepads, charts and code names, the majority echo "I didn't do it." Their forced confidence is overshadowed by sweaty brows, nervous twitches, ticks and timely repositioning of their chairs.

After enduring interruptions, posturing, continued refusal to admit fault, a cover-up, and an investigation, you suddenly realize you have seen it all before in real life.

Palo Alto Players opened an exciting and diverse 74th season with "The White House Murder Case," a rarely staged political satire written in 1970 by Jules Feiffer.

Set in a nonspecific future six weeks before a presidential election, the play follows the administration as it is embroiled in a most unpopular war -- in Brazil. With the discovery of a major military blunder, the core cabinet members start to dig for the truth and then -- once discovered -- abruptly start to bury it again.

By the end of the first act, their woes have increased 10-fold as someone close to the president is discovered skewered to death in the Oval Office. Death by protest sign. What to do?

Chock full of amusing oxymorons such as "peace riots" and "peace arsenal," the play has uncanny and frightening similarities to present-day political circumstances, proving that the political climate has not changed so very much over the last 35 years. The finger-pointing, the refusal to accept responsibility and the process of creating a kinder, gentler, "spin-free" truth, all contribute solidly to the plot and provide a large part of the humor in this production.

Ray Doherty easily delivered some of the most amusing comic relief as the half-paralyzed, blind military representative General Pratt. Ray milked every moment and was rewarded with the applause afterward. The audience cringed and squirmed along with the nit-picking, whiny Professor Sweeney (Don DiMico), a man obsessed with statistics and enamored with someone he ought not to be. Fred Sharkey brought life and depth to the Postmaster General, and Mark Rawlins, as President Hale, possessed far more skills of deduction than most leaders of the free world, but did so believably.

If I were giving out the awards, Ted Hatrak (Secretary of Defense Parson) would win best scene with a chart by a landslide. Paul Braverman was cogent as General Cole and Mary Moore delivered a refreshing blast of much-needed estrogen to the spineless group as the liberal First Lady bent on torturing her husband with dreaded morals and social conscience. Her Hilary hairdo and Feiffer's brassy, progressive rhetoric were a perfect match for Moore.

The most entertaining scenes showed the delightfully twisted decline and deterioration of Captain Weems (played by David Hundsness) and Lieutenant Cutler (Jonathan Ferro) in the jungle of Brazil. Their philosophical banter built up nicely and was reminiscent of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot."

Director Dave Sikula and scene designer Ron Gasparinetti conquered the difficult staging of the play -- set in both the Oval Office and the jungles of Brazil -- with simple, clever sets. The sound design, though terribly loud in places, scored the dramatic and melodramatic edge of the play quite nicely, and the costuming and lighting complimented the production.

The trend toward political satire this season begs the question, "Why don't we do this more often?" But the only answer we get from this play is, "Because it's funny." And maybe laughter is the best medicine.

Information

What: Palo Alto Players presents "The White House Murder Case," written by Jules Feiffer

Where: Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto.

When: Through Sunday, with show times Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Cost: Tickets are $24 for Thursday performances; $25 for Friday evenings; $27 for Saturday evenings; $22 for Sunday performances; savings are available for youth, students, seniors, group of 15 or more and season-ticket subscribers.

Call: 329-0819

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