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Synopsis In the hot summer of 1925, the famous "Monkey Trial" took place in Dayton, Tennessee. A young teacher was accused of violating The Butler Act, which restricted the teaching of evolution in state-funded schools. The defence featured famous attorney Clarence Darrow, the prosecution starred the celebrated orator, populist, & three-time Democratic Presidential candidate Jennings Bryan. Nearly two hundred reporters descended upon the town. For the first time news of an American trial was broadcast by radio, and thousands of people went to Drayton to see the carnival for themselves. Thirty years later, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee dramatised these events into a play: Inherit the Wind. Now a classic of American theatre, it was also made into an acclaimed movie in 1960 - directed by Stanley Kramer and starring Spencer Tracy and Frederic March.
David Troughton & Kevin Spacey in Inherit the Wind
Date: 5 October 2009
Coinciding with this year’s Charles Darwin anniversaries – 200 years since his birth, 150 since the publication of On the Origin of Species - Trevor Nunn’s large-scale revival of Inherit the Wind opened last Thursday (1 October 2009, previews from 18 September) at the Old Vic, where it runs until 12 December (See 1st Night Photos, 2 Oct 2009).
Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee's 1955 Broadway play is based on the real-life 1925 Scopes 'Monkey' Trial in which John Scopes was prosecuted for violating a Tennessee state statute by teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to his students.
The case attracted worldwide headlines and two famous lawyers to do battle - Clarence Darrow for the defence and William Jennings Bryan for the prosecution – who were fictionalised by the playwrights as Henry Drummond and Matthew Harrison Brady. In the 1960 film, the parts were played by Spencer Tracy and Fredric March. In Nunn’s production, they’re taken by Old Vic artistic director Kevin Spacey and David Troughton, respectively.
The 40-strong cast also features Sam Phillips as Bertram Cates (the Scopes character), Mark Dexter as journalist EK Hornbeck (based on the real-life HL Mencken), Sonya Cassidy and Ken Bones. The production is designed by Rob Howell, with costumes by Howell and Irene Bohan, lighting by Howard Harrison, sound by Fergus O’Hare and music supervision by Steven Edis.
While all of the overnight critics noted the timeliness of the production, there was disagreement as to whether this alone warranted dusting off what many perceived to be a “clunky, old play”. For most, the “strong” and “marvellous” central performances from Spacey and Troughton, and in particular their “blistering” courtroom head-to-head, was more than enough to compensate for any script weaknesses. Mark Dexter and Ken Bones also won plaudits in supporting roles. And director Trevor Nunn managed to erase bad critical memories of another piece featuring “wind” in the title and set in the American South with an “epic” and “spirited” production that marshals a “vast cast” to create a real sense of community.
Simon Edge on Whatsonstage.com (three stars) – “With creationism back in full cry in the US, it needs to be taken literally again. We’re not in the States, though. Inherit the Wind is meant to be director Trevor Nunn’s contribution to this year’s Darwin anniversaries, but it’s much less relevant over here than in America. His caution in falling back on this occasionally clunking courtroom drama looks sadly like another example of the Old Vic’s obsession with all things American under Kevin Spacey’s helm ... As opposite number Matthew Harrison Brady, David Troughton gives the real star turn. With a rubber face, an expressive sniff and fidgety shoulders that seem to operate independently of the rest of him, he’s a lumbering bear of a political demagogue ... But with everyone decked out in sepia, on a courtroom-based set by Rob Howell that isn’t as inventive as it would like to be, it’s visually underwhelming ... A well-meaning challenge to religious mania, the production doesn’t deserve to go the way that Nunn’s previous breeze-related venture, Gone With the Wind, did last year. But it’s more a zephyr than a cyclone.
Benedict Nightingale in The Times (four stars) – “Since some 46% of Americans reportedly believe that Darwin got it wrong ... you can’t call Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee’s 54-year-old play particularly dated. Over here a greater proportion doubtless regards evolution as fact, not theory - but there’s still much in Trevor Nunn’s able revival to absorb any British theatregoer, notably a courtroom scene that brings Kevin Spacey and David Troughton into near-mortal combat ... Both principals are strong enough to justify the revival of a play better known, like many these days, in its film version. Spacey’s Drummond has white hair, a parchment face, stooped shoulders and a painful walk, but his most unelderly wits and wit fizz round Rob Howell’s set ... Troughton’s massive, paunchy, infinitely vain Brady trundles about, looking like a dinosaur that has miraculously survived its relatives’ extinction, and booming out his syllables as if to rival the crashing meteor that killed them. I’m a sucker for that endangered genre, the courtroom scene, and few come better than the one in which Spacey puts his foe on the stand ... The play has its weaknesses ... but you forgive the occasional clunkiness. That’s partly because Nunn again displays his ability to handle large casts, here crowds of 30 or 40 singing hymns and waving Bible Belt banners — but mostly because watching an urbane Spacey tame an increasingly edgy Troughton is as mesmerising as watching a veteran matador skilfully skewer an enormous bull.”
Michael Billington in the Guardian (four stars) – “Can fine acting make up for a clunky old play? Absolutely. And, in this case, it has to ... The piece itself by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee is shaky stuff: the real pleasure comes from watching Kevin Spacey and David Troughton going head to head ... Given the arguments raging in the US, the piece has topicality. But there is little in the way of intellectual debate, and the characters surrounding the two legal Titans are mostly ciphers. The exception is a cynical journalist, clearly the villain of the piece, who amounts to a gross slur on the real-life HL Mencken. But the acting and production overcome the play's defects. Kevin Spacey is a particular joy to watch as the liberal ... (his) great achievement is to combine passion and wit ... Troughton is equally fine, capturing the character's naked defencelesness when his certainties are eroded ... Trevor Nunn's production also gives the setpiece debate a context by creating a sense of community ... And, if the minor characters are thinly written, Mark Dexter as the sceptical hack, Ken Bones as the demented preacher, and Sonya Cassidy as his divided daughter all impress.”
Henry Hitchings in the Evening Standard (two stars) – “The play’s level of argument is low, and the experience of watching it becomes a judicial process in its own right. The case for the prosecution is robust. Instead of the white heat and subtleties of debate, we have a clunky exposition of starkly binary positions. When the play was written it must have seemed a bold affront to McCarthyism, but now it feels more like an essay in dramatic torpor ... Spacey is, as ever, luxuriously watchable. He imbues every gesture with significance; no little twinge is unpoetic. Rob Howell’s design impressively exploits the depth of the Old Vic’s stage, and Trevor Nunn’s production contains agile ensemble work from the huge cast, which evokes the sheer spectacle of community ... There’s even an appealing turn by a live rhesus monkey, but none of this extenuates the turgid preachiness of the play ... Despite solid and at times silvery execution Inherit the Wind is unappetising fare.”
Sarah Hemmings in the Financial Times (three stars) – “Though the drama is a bit of a throwback, the issues, astonishingly, are not (the new film about Darwin, Creation, had trouble finding a US distributor). The play, lovingly staged by Trevor Nunn, builds to a blistering conclusion with two legal giants slugging it out in the courtroom. David Troughton and Kevin Spacey are tremendous, their bruising encounter forcefully reminding us that the struggle between faith and reason, fundamentalism and tolerance, is not over. Nunn’s production certainly looks a treat. Rob Howell’s set brings unusual depth to the Old Vic stage and sketches in the small town, “the buckle on the Bible belt”, with charming, sepia backdrops on which Nunn creates a series of tableaux ... Once the drama hits the trial proper the production soars ... There are pleasing performances too from Ken Bones as a hellfire preacher and Mark Dexter as a suave, cynical journalist. The case for the prosecution, then: this is a solid old play given a rather outmoded production. The case for the defence: the arguments are still with us and they blaze into life in two marvellous performances. The defence wins the day.”
Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph - “With almost 50% of Americans still denying the idea of evolution 150 years after Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and the new film about his life, Creation, struggling to find a US distributor, this revival of Inherit the Wind (1955) couldn’t be more timely. It shows that ignorance and intolerance aren’t the exclusive preserve of Islamist fanatics. Christianity can have its dark side, too. But the play, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee, is cracking entertainment and proof that few things work as effectively in theatre as a good old-fashioned courtroom drama. Trevor Nunn, who came such a cropper with a musical version of Gone With the Wind, here redeems himself. It’s an epic production with a vast cast and evocative designs by Rob Howell that brings a Bible-belt town in the 1920s to life, before coming up with a trial scene that is gripping, amusing and touching ... Though there are many fine supporting performances, most notably from Ken Bones as a hellfire-threatening priest, three performances stand out. Mark Dexter is deliciously cool and witty as the apparently cynical but in fact morally decent journalist reporting the case, while David Troughton is superb as the self-regarding, oratorically booming Bible-basher of a populist prosecutor. Best of all is Kevin Spacey ... He catches a mixture of sharp wit, righteous indignation and sudden glimpses of great human warmth and compassion. This old play creaks a bit but it remains a sturdy, splendidly eloquent defence of tolerance in a bigoted world.”
Paul Taylor in the Independent (four stars) – “After the ill-fated musical version of Gone With the Wind, you might have thought that Trevor Nunn would have wanted to steer clear of the American South. But the director is back there now in the Old Vic's remarkably involving revival of Inherit the Wind ... Its defence of the right to think for oneself is as timely as ever. It also offers the delight of watching two fine actors going head-to-head in the climactic courtroom ding-dong ... Spacey's superb Drummond is a wily, almost negligently charismatic legal titan ... Matching him in stage presence, Troughton portrays Brady as, in part, a mountainous overgrown child, greedy for public approval and willing to resort to the cheapest rhetorical tricks to get it ... Though you occasionally feel that Nunn wouldn't be averse to turning this into a full-scale musical, he does a spirited job in creating a sense of the local community. Scenes are connected by a hymn-singing, banner-waving crowd of God-fearing worthies ... Mark Dexter makes a strong impression as a suavely sceptical visiting reporter.”
The theory of evolution went on trial in Tennessee in 1925 with the arrest of a young science teacher for telling kids about Charles Darwin. When Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee wrote a play about the case 30 years later, it was seen as a metaphor for McCarthyism. Alarmingly, with creationism back in full cry in the US, it needs to be taken literally again.
We’re not in the States, though. Inherit the Wind is meant to be director Trevor Nunn’s contribution to this year’s Darwin anniversaries (200 years since his birth, 150 since the publication of Origin of the Species), but it’s much less relevant over here than in America. His caution in falling back on this occasionally clunking courtroom drama looks sadly like another example of the Old Vic’s obsession with all things American under Kevin Spacey’s helm.
Spacey himself plays defence lawyer Henry Drummond, modelled on the real-life legal magician Clarence Darrow. He enters at the end of the first act, white-haired and stooping, with a coffin-pallor, and the transformation is exciting: for a moment it seems as if the Old Vic’s biggest crowd-puller is going to break out of the samey mode that has made his performances so familiar after five years.
That hope is quickly dashed. This Spacey may have visually aged 20 years, but his delivery relies on the usual combination of deadpan sarcasm, theatrical pauses and shouty fury. The real Darrow was described as “America’s greatest one-man stage draw”, but we don’t see it here. When a previously God-fearing crowd comes round to Drummond's side in the third act, it just seems contrived.
As opposite number Matthew Harrison Brady (based on the presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan), David Troughton gives the real star turn. With a rubber face, an expressive sniff and fidgety shoulders that seem to operate independently of the rest of him, he’s a lumbering bear of a political demagogue who shrewdly modifies his delivery in the courtroom and ends up as a blubbering child when reduced to ridicule.
Among the rest of the huge cast – 26 speaking actors, 34 non-speaking townsfolk and a real-life monkey – Sam Phillips is by turns respectful and defiant as the heretic Bertram Cates and Sonya Cassidy is powerful as his conflicted sweetheart Rachel. Mark Dexter provides nasal wisecracks as the cynical journalist EK Hornbeck, based on the real-life HL Mencken.
But with everyone decked out in sepia, on a courtroom-based set by Rob Howell that isn’t as inventive as it would like to be, it’s visually underwhelming. There are moments in the enormous crowd scenes when the piece feels like it’s about to become a big Trevor Nunn musical. But even if it did, you get the impression the tempo would never rise about the townsfolk’s “Amazing Grace” dirges.
A well-meaning challenge to religious mania, the production doesn’t deserve to go the way that Nunn’s previous breeze-related venture, Gone With the Wind, did last year. But it’s more a zephyr than a cyclone.
Apparently attitudes of a significant proportion of Americans have barely moved on since 1925 which makes Inherit the Wind more topical than it should be. One of the great strengths of this country is that we can accept plays that question the tenets of what is still our majority religion -indeed at the National it's compulsory. If only theatre practitioners were brave enough to adopt an equal opportunities approach to fundamentalism in all faiths. At times this play feels very old fashioned but a courtroom confrontation almost guarantees verbal fireworks and Trevor Nunn's production does not disappoint. Despite a huge cast this is essentially a two-hander like Speed the Plow, Kevin Spacey's last appearance here (that didn't have a midweek matinee either - why?). Spacey is in superb form as the attorney fighting for the freedom to think for yourself and the biggest complement I can pay David Troughton is that he loses nothing in comparison. Inherit the Wind is a bit like theatre used to be but it's good to be reminded of old values occasionally. - David Baxter
29 Nov 09
I never realised this was a musical...what a crashing bore, with deeply embarrassing mugging from Spacey amid the amateur operatics of the chorus. When will the ancient pedant Nunn get the message? This is the 21st century! - Coral
30 Oct 09
Wow - amazing production. Can't see how anyone could fail to be bowled over and totally involved, as the members of the audience I was part of certainly were. I know the play well and enjoyed the reactions of those who obviously didn't, down to the standing ovation at the end. Wonderful staging, excellent performances. A Trevor Nunn musical? - the singing was good, too! - Alice
20 Oct 09
This is a fantastic ensamble piece.The seemingly never ending depth to the set is impressive, but over and above all of this, Spacey & Troughton are Outstanding. Couldn't take my eyes off them, didn't want it to end. Simply Superb. - geoff
13 Oct 09
I saw this show in Previews on Sept 29th (Opened Oct.1.) I was impressed by excellent quality of the large ensemble cast. But I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in Kevin Spacey's Henry Drummond (real life Clarence Darrow.) For certain he is a brilliant actor, just not on the night I saw him. He seemed to vacillate between thundering histrionics & glib affectation. His job was to make one care deeply about his client & even more, the result of this trial. It is more than a man on trial, it is free speech & free thinking that are at risk. The words are there, just the passion and conviction that should accompany them didn't come through. From the beginning it plays as if the outcome of the trial is a forgone conclusion. That robs the audience of the tension and suspense needed to keep them invested and to use a trite expression, on the edge of their seats. It also makes the "trial" longer for all concerned. You badly want to be on his side. The whole play is about his rational & at times amusing defense of these inalienable rights. The script is an actor's dream. Concise, at times cutting, at others amusing, sometimes tongue twisting, but always reaching toward the truth. The verbal word play in the trial between the two leads is like watching a perfectly choreographed sword fight. Each matching the other thrust by thrust. David Troughton as his adversary is due all measure of respect and applause. His personification of the bombastic, devoutly Presbyterian, Matthew Harrison Brady (real life William Jennings Bryan) thrice failed presidential candidate, is fighting figuratively and, in the end literally, for his life. And what a perfect foe he is! Kudos to Mr Troughton.! (The actual William Jennings Bryan did in fact die five days after this hollow victory.) In a strong forty odd ensemble cast, there are a few who are particularly memorable. Maybe some of the blame for a lack of vested interest in the outcome, lays on the milch-toast portrayal here of Sam Phillips' Bertram Cates. The real person, John Scopes, was a firebrand. This was a case put together & financed by the ACLU to test the Butler Law. John Scopes volunteered to intentionally break it, be arrested and tried. A person as mild mannered as this Bertram Cates would never have agreed. Sonya Cassidy's conflicted Rachel Brown, is a far more sympathetic character. It is her convincing portrayal of how this will forever change her life; her family; and her values that forces you to examine & really care about "what happens now." (Though it does make you wonder what she sees in Bertram...) Mark Dexter as E.K. Hornbeck the cynical reporter, was infinitely watchable and seemed to wrest your attention away from whomever was sharing the stage. He was at times the Greek Chorus, the conscience and/or the unappealing other side of the coin we would all prefer not to see, but must. Spacey's final confrontation with Dexter was his most convincing and honest emotional turn. Gone was the flat affect that is a part of his movie persona. Here, his deeply caring soul was finally released. One wished he'd dared show this face throughout.
I have to admit I found Spacey's white wig most distracting. Perhaps he was trying appear more (Spencer) Tracy-ish and less Kevin Spacey-ish. Being an international movie star does hamper the transition to stage.
I liked the gospel singing and thought it added to the whole atmosphere of an insular town of the deep south. Without being obtrusive, it conveyed a slightly claustrophobic feeling of "oneness" still present in some small towns wherever they are.
In all, it is a good but not great show. See it if you love a well written, truly great play; masterful swordsmanship between two heavy weights; Kevin Spacey (maybe he was just having an off night the 29th) and for sure David Troughton who deserves a Best Actor nomination
- K M Cavuoti
13 Oct 09
How often do you get a cast of 42, a vast deeep set and a proper entertaining play about something relevant? Well, here it is! It was written in the 50's about an incident in the 20's but it's so bang up to date you gasp. The play draws you into the debate so much that there are moments when the audience spontaneously whooped and cheered at the dialogue. The whole ensemble is terrific, with a magnificent Spacey-Troughton double-act at it's heart; the best since Spacey-Goldblum at the same theatre last year. It might sound bizzarre, but this 50-year-old play is a breath of fresh air! - Gareth James
27 Sep 09
Kevin Spacey’s timing is exemplary. +++
Not just in his personal performance but in bringing to the Old Vic such a dynamic production of the 1955 American war horse ‘Inherit The Wind’ - a courtroom drama based on the true-life story of a young Tennessee school teacher arraigned for promoting the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin against the orders of a Christian fundamentalist school board.
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Written in the shadow of the McCarthy trials it is topical today because of the ongoing battle between religious right-wingers in the US who have repackaged their anti-Darwinist stance into a fresh campaign to coerce schools into teaching ‘Intelligent Design’ (by the hand of God) instead of evolution as an approved scientific theory of the origin of man.
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It makes Madonna’s Kabbalist babbling look almost rational by comparison, and it’s coming to a courtroom near you pretty soon as they extend their campaign into the UK.
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In the meantime, enjoy the bareknuckle bout in 20’s Tennessee where Spacey is impeccable as the veteran lawyer Henry Drummond (real life Clarence Darrow) twanging his suspenders and twisting the witnesses’ words to barnstorming effect. He’s much shoutier than Spencer Tracy in the Oscar-winning 1960 movie, the internalised anger contorting his already hunched body into a shape that may physically recall Charles Laughton, but continuously commands the stage.
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It’s possible Spacey was impressed by the 2007 Broadway production in which Christopher Plummer finally threw off the mantle of Captain von Trapp and won plaudits for his portrayal of Drummond.
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For Drummond to have the audience on side is an easy win, you could argue, since the lawyer is fighting for the rights of the common man and the free thinker, but to succeed at this he needs a credible opposition.
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In the real story, three-times failed presidential candidate and tub-thumping bible-basher William Jennings Bryan came to Tennessee as the prosecuting counsel. The character’s called Matthew Harrison Brady and in David Troughton’s strong performance he’s also a lurchingly crippled titan, matching Spacey barb for barb in the war of the words over bible passages and driving himself to a personal resurrection of his political career. If he’s ultimately weakened by the fight, the fault’s in the script rather than the performance. This man’s on his way to King Lear. +++
Half ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ half ‘Gone With the Wind’, the design whips up a confectionery vignette of the Old South. Director Trevor Nunn punctuates the court action with gospel singing and torchlight processions lovingly dressed in shades of sepia like the Kansas scenes in ‘Wizard of Oz’. Given the script is by Robert E. Lee and Jerome Lawrence - authors of ‘Mame’ - it’s clear Sir Trev is desperate to turn it in to a musical.
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Outstanding among the 40-strong cast, something not usually seen outside the National, Mark Dexter plays the visiting cynical journalist who orchestrates the defence, based on Baltimore satirist H L Mencken, with a handsomely attractive oily charm - as he says ‘I may be rancid butter but I’m on your side of the bread’, and Ian Cunningham adds convincing value as the banjo-twangling court supervisor Ralph Meeker. +++
An old-fashioned ‘well made play’ but an excellent production. Go. +++ read more of my reviews at www.londonist.com and www.blowstar.blogspot.com - JohnnyFox
The Old Vic is one of the oldest theatres in London and famous throughout the English speaking world. Long known as 'the actors theatre', many of the greatest performers of the last century have played on its stage. In September 2004, The Old Vic Theatre Company was launched, under the artistic leadership of Kevin Spacey, to present a wide range of work, from the classic to the new, to appeal to both traditional theatre-goers and new audiences.
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