Margo on The Vertical Hour

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 12:30pm

"A doctor is someone who tells you the truth and stays with you to the end"

David Hare's new play THE VERTICAL HOUR is a thought-provoking exporation of how the political can sometimes intersect with and ultimately dismantel the personal. While the play is positively brimming with cogent and fascinating arguments involving the current political situation, the production only fitfully succeeds in bringing this story to life.

In the play, acclaimed film star, Julianne Moore, stars as Nadia Blye, a war correspondent turned Yale academic, who's grown disenchanted with her safe, rarified environs and longs for a return to the "action." She has an irrepressible streak of altruism that chafes at social injustice in any form around the world that makes her tenure in the pampered and disconnected Ivy Leagues personally intolerable. As someone who's been on the frontlines of the conflicts in Kosovo and Iraq and witnessed the everyday horrors and deprivations that are the plight of so many, she has little patience for the banal daily concerns of the privileged class represented by her students that she is forced to encounter. She has found herself a focus of scorn on campus as a liberal intellectual who supported the US invasion of Iraq, though, for her, it was for humanitarian reasons, rather than for any sort of political expediency or conservative dogma. Following an inital scene in her Yale office where she has an awkward confrontation with a student who has a crush on her and who expresses a certain disregard for her activist political philosophy, the play shifts to the isolated country estate of her English boyfriend's father. Their encounter with the father, Oliver Lucas (Bill Nighy), an uttery charming, insouciant, but enigmatic figure, makes up the bulk of the play.

At and around a picnic table, under the expansive branches of an enormous tree in the British countryside (ably supplied by Scott Pask's evocative set design), Blye, her boyfriend Philip (Andrew Scott), and the father have a series of conversations -- tentative, at first, but increasingly revealing as time progresses. An air of discomfort hovers over the encounter, partly due to political dischord (Nadia and Oliver disagree vehemently over America's role in Iraq), and partly due to social circumstances (it's clear that Philip has brought Nadia to meet Oliver, to get his blessing for their potential marriage, though father and son have been somewhat estranged for some time due to Oliver's philanderings many years ago that led to his divorcing Philip's mother).

While, Oliver and Nadia give off the appearance of being fierce adversaries, they have more in common than first appears, and she finds herself drawn to him because of similarities in their sensibilities. Both she (as a war correspondent) and the father (as a medical doctor) seem to excel more at helping and taking care of strangers than those closest to them. They're both better in a crisis than dealing with the day to day concerns of those they encounter. Phillip, the boyfriend, in contrast, as a physical therapist for a high end spa, focuses on preventative medicine -- working with his clients regularly on smaller nagging issues before they turn into larger more threatening problems.

At its heart the play explores the collison between the political and the personal; how one's worldview and how an individual perceives his (and his nation's) role in the world is often a reflection of how that person manages and deals with his own private, personal interactions. How, even when one is trying to do the right thing/to do good, it is sometimes impossible to avoid causing conflict and pain -- a fact that is true of both nations and individuals. Further, while it may be logical to want to run away from or even ignore danger and unpleasantness sometimes it may be morally necessary to put oneself into a potentially harmful situation.

Hare fills THE VERTICAL HOUR with several of these ethical and philosophical quandries that serve not only as dramatic interplay between the three main characters, but, also metaphorically as the basis for several of the arguments politicians and intellectuals are having these days concerning the role that America and the West have taken in Iraq, the Middle East and beyond. Taking Hare's symbolic interntions into account, it's fascinating to observe the ways in which these characters conflict with one another, attempt to help but cause hurt, overreact to potential crises based on an individual's negative behavior in the past, and whether achieving some peaceful common ground may be best attained by remaining and continuing to engage one another despite obvious differences, or by simply leaving altogether -- and how these situations echo larger questions in the current state of the world. Along these lines, incidentally, the "vertical hour" is that time following a crisis when a person is capable of doing some good -- it's a phrase that has implications to both the characters in the play, as well as the world at large.

All of this makes for an often intriguing piece of writing from Hare. However, this production, directed by Sam Mendes, only intermittedly achieves all of the promising potential of the text. The chief problem appears to be the central performance of Julianne Moore as Blye. While Moore, a superb luminous film actress here making her Broadway debut (she does have a couple of stage credits from the Public from over a decade ago), does convey some of the intelligence and tenacity that has become her trademark, much of her usual intensity and effortless dynamism has been diminished considerably within the more expansive Music Box Theater. She's vocally underpowered (the production needs a better sound designer -- several people around me seated in the just the eighth row of the orchestra returned from intermission armed with infrared headsets, complaining that they could barely hear her during Act I), seemed physically tentative (she had awful posture for a stage actor and, at times, looked unsure of her movements about the stage) and lacked a certain level of presence and magnetism.

In contrast, Bill Nighy was the very portrait rumpled, utterly nonchalant authority, exuding charisma and strength with little apparent effort -- he somehow manages to make twice the impression of Moore, with seemingly half the effort. The imbalance between them not only serves to lessen the impact of several of the play's main arguments, but also exposes some of the flaws in Hare's dramaturgy, making a rather talky play come across even more verbose and less engaging than it should.

This imbalance is further exacerbated by the underwritten role of Blye's boyfriend, Phillip. This doesn't seem to be the fault of the fine actor Andrew Scott, who does what he can in terms of fleshing out the part, but of Hare creating a character who is more of a plot device and a metaphorical conceit than a fully dimensional person. Scott provides an amiably handsome presence, but comes off as little more than a charming cipher who makes us wonder what such a bold, beautiful, brilliant woman such as Nadia Blye could ever see in him and whose deep resentment and alienation from his father is unformed and never fully explained in the text as presented.

Ultimately, I found THE VERTICAL HOUR to be an intelligent, thought-provoking, contemporary politically-themed drama presented in a flawed production where its trenchant, provocative ideas are somewhat muted here and oddly -- because of this uneven production -- seem more compelling upon reflection after the curtain has fallen than they had been in performance. This is not to say that the play itself couldn't benefit from another draft or two (adding texture to the role of Phillip and clarity to a few of the more nebulous political metaphors), but in its current form, it nevertheless gives one plenty to think about in terms of Hare's well-considered take on our often troubling, complicated present day political realities.



http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/

Updated On: 11/27/06 at 12:30 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 12:39pm

If I weren't so lazy, I'd like to believe (in my own head) that I could write reviews as great as Margo's!

I agree with a lot of your points, though I was willing to give Moore the benefit of the doubt that some of her "awkwardness" in the role was a character choice (Blye is more than a little uncomfortable in her own skin). The sound system was definitely a problem.

I agree with your assessment of the overall play though. I think THE VERTICAL HOUR is something of an unpolished, rough draft script - though clearly the emphasis was on producing the play while its subject matter is still timely. Perhaps Hare will do some more polishing later, but I don't think this is a play people will have much interest in producing 5-10 years down the road. And that's just fine.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 1:15pm

While I adore Moore -- so much so that it pained me to criticize her here -- I felt I had to mention certain deficiencies I perceived in the performance I attended. Her tentativeness as Blye struck me more as a certain inadequacy in her stage technique -- perhaps due to nerves or maybe she's a bit rusty after having been away from theatre for so long -- than a specific acting choice on her part. There's a difference between consciously projecting awkwardness and simply being awkward due to lack of experience, and to me it seemed she was suffering from the latter. At times it looked like she didn't seem to know what to do with her body -- as I said her posture isn't very good -- and her choices often weren't as clear and defined as they should have been (especially considering how strong and bold her character is described as being). And it didn't help that she was up there with a couple of stage pros like Nighy and Scott, who make everything look so natural and easy, further pointing up her apparent uncertainty.

Mind you, she didn't come across as a novice (as Julia Roberts did at times last season). There were some good things in her performance, but ultimately she seemed a bit "small," lacking the kind of dynamic presence that I think the role calls for.

[Garland Grrrl]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 2:06pm

Thanks MC!
Meanwhile, Bill Nighy continues to take over the world. I've loved his work since the first moment I saw him. Can't wait to see the show.

[emg_sound]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 4:12pm

Two points:

First, I agree with many of the criticisms you have presented concerning the performances. I was quite exhausted (I had just taken the red-eye from LA and caught the Wednesday matinee) and I purchased SRO tickets, so it added to my exhaustion, that being said Moore's performance seemed quite forced, and she had minor line flubs often within the opening scene (and only one week until opening to boot!).

As far as the sound design complaints, as a sound designer (I'm working on my MFA) I feel that your complaints are a slight bit off the mark. Generally in straight plays the actors aren't reinforced, if they are it is only for a section where the acoustic energy cannot reach the audience (Such as the rear section under the balcony). Looking at the stage at intermission, I noticed some small diaphragm condenser microphones along the downstage lip of the stage, so that would be feeding the infared listening systems and the under balcony mics, rather than wireless microphones. That being said, I feel that the issue lies mostly on the shoulders of Ms. Moore not projecting near as much as she should! Actually my big complaint with the sound design (And I have a great deal of respect for Christopher Cronin, I have heard many designs he has done, as well as shows he has mixed {he was the production sound engineer for the Doyle's Sweeney Todd}) was the choice of music over text, for example, during Nighy's opening monologue, I felt the choice of guitar/folky music was not the best, as it created a conflict for the ears, which made the opening a smidge harder to follow.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 5:37pm

I agree that most of the fault sound-wise lies with Ms. Moore -- especially since Nighy and Scott had no problem being heard -- but, since it's clear that she has a problem with projection and the technology exists to help her out, then why not use it? I have a friend who's been the sound designer for several non-musical plays on and off Broadway and he's frequently told me about several Broadway theaters that have dead spots throughout the entire house -- even in the orchestra section -- that he's had to find ways of compensating for without making the amplification seem obvious. There are several shows I've been to of his where the sound seemed so naturally acoustic that you would SWEAR that no amplification was used whatsoever and his tweaks were so subtle that even the actors onstage didn't know that they were being aided electronically (he's occasionally worked without any program credit, when the producers feared offending the egos of certain actors who don't think that they need any help -- his stories of how he's had to hide mics near the stage and conceal small speakers in the audience are priceless).

Perhaps, as the run continues, Moore will grow more comfortable with being on stage and supplying the necessary amount of projection without coming off forced or shrill (which I've seen happen to actors trying to push their sound without the proper support). She's certainly a talented actor and perhaps in time she'll get her bearings.

[Luvinbroadway]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 9:50pm

I ask again!
Margo..please marry me!
Your thoughts/comments are beautiful!

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 11/30/06 at 11:50pm

he's occasionally worked without any program credit, when the producers feared offending the egos of certain actors who don't think that they need any help -- his stories of how he's had to hide mics near the stage and conceal small speakers in the audience are priceless).

Margo, you have to dish! You can't tempt us like this.