AMERICA

Nine characters in search of a plot

JOHN GRAHAM

Washington, DC There is no close season for ambition. Although Richard Nixon has been President for only two years, although he may have six more years in the White House, and although he is still something of a novelty in that people are still trying to work out ex- actly what he means to do about Indochina and America's social problems, the battle for the Democratic nomination for the Presid- ency in 1972 has already been joined.

It may sound odd and premature to English ears to be discussing at this stage an event nearly two years away, but in the American context, and especially in the con- text of Washington, there is nothing odd. The 1972 election is an important event today because the politicians are making it so.

It would be convenient to treat the 'matter as a Shakespearian three-acter. The first act is filled with preliminary tilting, the second is the action-packed blood-letting of the nominating convention, and in the final act, with all secondary players dead, the two surviving protagonists fight to the - death.

Enters left: Senator George McGovern, with a formal announcement (issued at the South Dakota Repertory) that he will play the title role. No, the Senator has not got the Year wrong. He has walked on a little early, certainly, and indeed even the audience hasn't sat down in its seats. But he practised his stagecraft and developed his lungs two Years ago when the company last came to town, and anyway his will be a performance of candour and reason, which takes time. This is to be a morality play and the senator is not afraid of long monologues.

He might not have put his make-up on so fast if it hadn't been for another old trouper, Honest Ed Muskie, whose voice keeps filling the auditorium, even though he hasn't walked on stage yet. Actually Mr McGovern was afraid that Mr Muskie was negotiating to buy the whole theatre so that he could put on a one-man show. Mr Muskie has been getting on very well with the Jewish im- presarios in New York who are the com- pany's traditional angels.

There are angels in the West End, too, and Messrs Muskie and McGovern duly betook themselves to California last weekend to talk to them and to the western stage managers. At this point they were joined by a third Player, Senator Birch Bayh. Mr Bayh is a lit- tle-known actor from the local circuit in In- diana, who first got his name in lights last Year when he publicly picketed someone outside the profession called Judge Carswell. It was mostly a legal dispute,' dealing with such things as the right of negro members of Equity to get the same rates of pay and so on as whites, and though it was a small part, Mr Bayh played it quite neatly.

Mr Bayh and Mr McGovern have similar acting styles, but the same cannot be said of

the fourth member of the cast, Senator Harold Hughes of Iowa. Mr Hughes is also a relative newcomer, and is even less known than Mr Bayh. But he made a tremendous

reputation in the mid-west as a player of tough roles, and the talent-spotters think the time may have come to put him on Broadway. He has certain physical advantages. To begin with, he is huge, with broad shoulders and a commanding presence. The impression of great strength is balanced by a lovely speaking voice, and both have survived years of alcoholism, which he freely admits. He never drinks now, and talks often of 'spiritual regeneration'.

To these four—McGovern, Muskie, Bayh and Hughes—who are all polishing up their technique, may be added a fifth, Mr Ramsay Clark. Mr Clark held a fairly senior job in management the last time the company put on a major play, but since then he seems to have been in need of vocational guidance. He has been more and more tempted to try his hand on stage rather than off. He has never walked on stage before, and indeed he never even went to acting school.

Fortunately it is a very large stage, because apart from these five players there are four more who claim to be retired, or 'resting', but whose names appear regularly in Variety. There is the old road-show specialist Mr Hubert Humphrey, for a start. Chiefly a character actor, Humphrey was nominated for an Oscar two years ago for his understudying of the old pro Lyndon Johnson, but he lost his voice in the third act and just lost in a close vote.

One of his troubles, however, is that he can only speak from the left of the stage, and this goes for another of the big names too, genial Ted Kennedy of the Boston Rep. Ken- nedy comes from one of the country's most famous acting families—they have even tried to put on plays with only members of the family in the cast—but a nasty accident while doing summer stock may have ended his ability to play major roles. He has also just lost a battle in Equity over who should have the best dressing-rooms.

The eighth and ninth members of the dramatis personae at present, at least ac- cording to back-stage gossip, are 'Scoop' Jackson from Washington State and John Lindsay, the matinee idol from Broadway. The company's angels would probably not like John Lindsay much, since he has been apprenticed for years to the rival company, even though his present masters wish to keep him in the provinces.

As for 'Scoop' Jackson, it is oddly enough the Casablanca crowd which is promoting him. He is of the old school, and prefers the right-centre entry. He too, is a player of tough parts, with a penchant for military roles. He would do very well, for example. as the senior officer in Journey's End, whereas John Lindsay will be given a part only if the company decides to try its hand at theatre of the absurd. Jackson looks much better in the centre of the stage, as the Casablanca people clearly knew two years ago, when they offered him a management post at Pentagon Productions Unlimited. Certainly the pro- duction is lavish, if a little dull, and ticket sales are not as brisk as they were. The Casablanca Company is still trying to turn itself into a permanent National Theatre, however, although there seems little chance if they persist in raising the price of tickets.

Indeed. the ticket price issue may become the plot next year when all players in both companies finally identify themselves. One by one, the Democratic players will tear off their whiskers and pounce. They are great believers in audience participation. d /a Pirandello; they might well be nine characters in search of a plot.