THE STRANGERER THEATER OOBLECK
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What does Camus’ existential classic–about a French Algerian who finds meaning in his meaningless life when he goes on trial for killing an Arab–have to do with 21st-century American politics? Plenty, in this unpredictable, hilarious, and provocative play by Oobleck member Mickle Maher. Set during the 2004 presidential campaign, The Strangerer takes place in Coral Gables, Florida, where Bush and Senator John Kerry faced off in their first debate. The moderator, PBS icon Jim Lehrer, declares his intention to focus on foreign policy and homeland security. But like most political candidates, Bush and Kerry dodge and twist Lehrer’s questions to convey their own messages.
The result, like so many televised debates, is an exercise in absurdist theater–but with a bizarre twist. Instead of simply selling his positions or his leadership, Bush tries to kill Lehrer. On the air, several times, using a knife, a handgun, a pillow, a bottle of cyanide, even a Balinese kris. His attempts to murder the moderator fail as completely as his efforts to export democracy to Iraq. Nonetheless, like Mersault, he knows that what’s important is the court of public opinion. So rather than answer questions about his management of the war, he devotes his two-minute statements and 90-second rebuttals to a long, scrupulously detailed account of the events motivating his attempt at homicide: an evening out that included a trip to the theater, where he saw another tale of symbolically charged murder, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The Strangerer makes no mention of how Bush squandered his “political capital” after the 2004 election or of his present dismal standing. Yet Maher reminds us that his extreme actions have led to an absurd political agenda that shaped, and still shapes, all our lives. Trying to knock off Jim Lehrer on national television is really no more outrageous than letting loose the dogs of war in the Middle East. And Lehrer and Kerry’s ineffectual efforts to react rationally to the president’s attempts at murder echo the responses of the press and Democrats to Bush’s obvious deception when he first “sold” the Iraq invasion. Bush isn’t running for reelection, but both parties’ presidential contenders are struggling to define themselves, their past actions,and their visions for the future in the context he created.
