Running for President, William Russell, Gore Vidal’s protagonist in, “The Best Man,” enjoys quoting his namesake, philosopher Bertrand Russell, saying “People in a democracy tend to think they have less to fear from a stupid man than from an intelligent one.”
Candidate Russell (Mike Butscher) references Oliver Cromwell and Martin Luther, but it is Yeats that is more appropriate, for “the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” Russell seems adrift, and it’s his lack of certainty that denies him former President Hockstedar’s (Jerry Gietka)coveted endorsement. Russell’s opponent, Joe Cantwell (Todd Krickler), is more Joe McCarthy, declaring that the ends justify the means, any means, in his crusade against international Communism, a crusade which cloaks his real goal — to wield great power.
These are titanic issues and the actors who must breathe life into these roles are not so much as Nixon and Kennedy, as Pierce and Buchanan. Who? Exactly.
Butscher is too stiff in his role; he struggles to push out his lines, like a plumber trying to coax a plug from a drain. Krickler’s Cantwell lacks the demonic presence needed here; he’s less the demagogue and more the angry used car salesman.
Shining in their roles are Gietka as the Harry Truman-like Hockstedar and Janise Wheelan as Mrs. Gamadage. Gietka inhabits his part as a walking “end of an era,” the last of the “country boy” politicians.
He sparkles at the opportunity to play kingmaker, wallowing in the mud of one more “real ugly fight.” Wheelan exudes “hi y’all sugar” sweetness, but with a bite, the voice of the American Housewife who, one suspects, believes herself a better choice for president than either of the two candidates she advises.
The play, which debuted in 1964, is somewhat dated.
The days when presidents were made “behind closed doors” died with the rise of the internet. But as director Mark Squirek observes in his program notes, the play’s “insights into human behavior” are “timeless.” What motivates each one of us? Is it a desire for power or to do what is right? What does it take to be a good leader?
Though Mobtown’s execution of this famed work is shaky, the subject matter is worth the price of admission.
IF YOU GO
The Best Man
Veune: Mobtown Theater
Meadow Mill, 3600 Clipper Mill Road, Suite 114, Baltimore
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday through Nov. 8; 4 p.m. matinees Sunday, Oct. 26 and Nov. 2
Tickets: $10 to $12.
Info.: 410-467-3057; mobtownplayers.com
