Play review - "An Evening with Richard Nixon" by Gore Vidal

In his most recent memoirs, Vidal doesn't talk much about his plays Weekend or Romulus but spends several pages on this one. It has the bright idea of telling Nixon's story through quotes from Nixon itself -but then adds in extra characters in the form of, mostly, JFK,Eisenhower and Washington. Actually when these three are cross examining Nixon the play is at its funniest and best, with Washington as a kind of referee and JFK and Eisenhower talking about their relationship with Nixon. But then it gets on and Vidal becomes angrier, Washington starts to lecture and the work becomes less character based, more polemical(Nixon seems more human in the earlier section, when we can see his relationships with others more). Agree with Vidal's biographer, Fred Kaplan, who said this was a pamphlet more than a play - but for all that still entertaining. The best line comes in Vidal's introduction - saying he always thought Chequers was a perfect decent spaniel despite rumours"one is apt to hear about any dog in public life". Genius.