Theater Review - All the King's Men

All the King's Men

A new adaptation by Adrian Hall based on the novel by Robert Penn Warren

Directed by Adrian Hall

Where: Thompson Theater at the Roselle Center for the Arts

(University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware)

I'm pretty darn sure the point of this somewhat scattershot production wasn't for me to walk away from it talking about nudity, but that's what happened.  Instead of making me think about backwoods politics or corrupt media or southern family values (all of which this play very well could have made me think about), I kept thinking about the completely irrelevant moment of nudity at the outset of All the King's Men.  "Why discuss this?" one may ask, "if it's completely irrelevant?"  It is for that very reason -- the irrelevance -- that as I left the theater with my fellow patron, the topic was brought up.  Perhaps it's there for shock value or for the sake of art, but there is no reason for it to be there.  It wasn't an incredibly passionate moment, it wasn't done for the sake of comedy, and it happens so soon in the play that we in the audience have no connection to the characters that the actors are trying to convey to us.  It's the last part there that irritates me the most.  I'm all for nudity, but give me a reason to want to see the nudity...let me know who these people are and why these characters are doing what they do.  I have to wonder what motivation the director gave the charming actress who bared all...because it added nothing to the plot or story.  But, hey...it got me talking about the play and, as is the case in many instances of nudity in movies, art, or theater, that "buzz" is often the sole reason for someone to bare all.

Of course, the play doesn't live or die by the fact that there's a brief moment of bare skin.  But All the King's Men is so uninteresting that it's the "shock value" that resonates moreso than anything else.  To this reviewer, it's a play in search of itself.  Is it about young newspaper reporter Jack Burden (played by PTTP member Matthew Simpson) who starts off following burgeoning politician Willie Stark (REP actor Mic Matarrese) or is it about Stark himself who eventually puts Burden on his payroll?  Regardless of who the focus should be on, neither character is charismatic or the least bit interesting, and when your play goes on for over three hours, you better be able to sustain my interest.  Filled with seemingly endless (choppy) vignettes, odd staging, an interminable opening focus on a character completely unrelated to either Burden or Stark, and musical interludes courtesy of Randy Newman (which, handled admirably by the cast, provide a surprising jolt of energy even though they're out-of-place at times), I couldn't help but think that the play just meandered aimlessly.  

Fortunately, the acting ensemble makes the most of the little they are given.  Matthew Simpson, in particular, is engaging in a rather bland role.  Mic Matarrese also makes the most of his part, but I kept expecting the character of Willie Stark to be a little more eccentric which the play never permitted him to be.  There are also nice turns from the play's quartet of ladies, the REP's Elizabeth Heflin and PTTP members Jasmine Bracey, Meaghan Sullivan, and Sara J. Griffin. 

Still, All the King's Men needs some serious trimming in terms of story before I could deem it a play I'd care to watch again.  It's an unfortunate bump in the road on the REP's overall enjoyable season thus far.