Michael Aloni on stage in Richmond? I’m there!
Who wouldn't travel west to see the Israeli actor as playwright Arthur Miller?
Brigit Grant is the Jewish News Supplements Editor
One’s a Jew, the other a Greek, but their shared heritage as sons of immigrants creates an intriguing connection between Arthur Miller (Michael Aloni) and Elia Kazan (Shaun Evans) in Here in America. Both men were big contributors to American culture, Miller as the esteemed author of masterpieces like Death of a Salesman and The Crucible and Kazan as director of such unforgettable films as A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront, but for all their talent and shared sensibilities, David Edgar’s play show us how their paths diverged during the McCarthy Trials. In a nutshell, Miller refused to name names, and Kazan did not.
Like so many in their peer group working in the arts, Miller and Kazan had faced the economic devastation of the Great Depression as children and were later drawn to communism because of the failings of capitalism. But Miller never joined the party despite attending meetings and was vehemently opposed to shopping those he knew who were there.
The play is a smart but densely verbal retelling of the days before Kazan made his decision to testify. Full of fascinating historical facts woven together with wit and knowledge about the men involved, so Edgar gives the audience lots to think about, but at times it feels more like a lecture than entertainment.
The weight of thinking is lifted by the female characters in the play, first and most effectively by Kazan’s wife Molly, and then Marilyn Monroe who bewitched both men, but Miller married her. Faye Castelow as Molly brings much light to the production and particularly when teaching her husband to play Scrabble which is a fabulous scene worthy of a double word score.
Jasmine Blackborrow is a convincing Marilyn and the tragic actress is used as a device to explore the shared taste of the two creatives and their influence on her as she sought to be known for more than her beauty. To be taken seriously was Marilyn’s goal, and the same is true of Edgar’s worthy play, which falters only when it tries too hard. Evans, who hails from Liverpool, copes well as Massachusetts-raised Kazan under James Dacre’s direction, which makes the most of the skilled quartet. But Aloni as Miller remains the apple (it’s Rosh Hashanah) of our eye.
With playwright Miller it was always about his intellect, and though an attractive man, he was 40 when he married Monroe, then aged 30.
Aloni is also 40, but he hypnotises with his physical attributes and though he has to work hard vocally to pull off a native New Yorker he just about copes. But it’s being so close to the Israeli actor in this small theatre – we’re talking close enough to touch him on the shoulder (were it permissible) – that makes this play worth much more than the ticket price. And all the more so when I saw him after the performance with a yellow hostage ribbon pinned on his jacket.
Here in America runs until October 19 https://orangetreetheatre.co.uk
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