A volume of Vidal's work for British audiences, with a typically witty introduction that covers the fact that two of the plays (both hits on Broadway) flopped in the UK.
"Visi to a Small Planet" is a charming... fable, I guess you could call it about a child-like alien who comes to earth. Vidal later claimed that Mork and Mindy borrowed from his play but its clear his work is more than a little inspired by The Day the Earth Stood Still (imagine that where the Michael Rennie character is keen on wrecking havoc instead of Doing The Right Thing). It's good fun, with lots of satire (though perhaps easy targets): the career minded general, the television pundit, the pundit's silly wife, their wacky daughter and his boyfriend. I also enjoyed the aide whose mind is all too easily read. The work felt as though it lacked a little something - another plot twist or key character or something. It was expanded from a television hour and you can kind of tell. I was surprised it had such a long run on Broadway - maybe the star performers were particularly strong. The climax is a sort of deux ex machina - only one invited by one of the lead characters, so does that count as a deux ex machina?
"March to the Sea" is a lot more interesting, though even Vidal admits it is flawed. Also adapted from a television play, although there is a bit more meat here. It is sort of Little Foxes meets All My Sons - Vidal says in an enlightened intro he felt the main problem was his inability to make up his mind about the lead guy, a wealthy self-made Southern farmer who has raised his sons with ideals of honour and sacrifice but when push comes to shove follows the practical line. The farmer has an eye for a buck - but running off to fight a war is silly. Vidal doesn't quite bring it all together but it is a fascinating, strong play with an effective character in the Union officer who turns up and who has been burnt by war. Vidal says the opening scene is tedious - it isn't as good as the rest, I admit, but wasn't that bad. Script editing thought: could he have just cut it? Or should he have set it before the war?
"The Best Man" is the third one and is the best - I think because Vidal really knows this world, whereas the others are from his imagination. Its the fight between two political candidates, an Adlai Stevenson type (intellectual, womanising, funny,) and a Richard Nixon (ruthless, smart, prick). Full of bright dialogue, with weight from the ex-president Harry Truman like support character. The female characters are a bit misogynist I guess - the conservative women's expert, the ruthless wife of Nixon - but from all accounts there were women like this in American politics around this time. Great final act twist, with Adlai pulling out in favour of a mediocrity. Surely this greatly influenced The West Wing. Highly entertaining and enjoyable.
The volume is accompanied by some essays, which are even better than the plays (as we would find out about Vidal's novels.
No comments:
Post a Comment