Weekend TimeLine Theatre Company
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In fact Weekend‘s politics aren’t realistic at all. The play imagines a Republican senator who decides to stake his run for the 1968 presidential nomination on his opposition to the Vietnam war, only to see his campaign threatened by his son’s plan to marry an African-American woman. Such a premise would have seemed unlikely at best at the time—which may be why Vidal channels it into an epigrammatic, lightly satiric comedy of manners in the style of Oscar Wilde. Its humor depends almost entirely on the improbability of its plotting, the archness of its tone, and the shallowness of its characters.
Neither a disaster nor a neglected gem, Weekend begins by attacking easy targets with a parodist’s bludgeon rather than a satirist’s scalpel, and the disconnect between the play’s charged subject matter and droll, aloof style is off-putting. But some sharp twists make the second act worth waiting for. Even with its flaws, the play justifies TimeLine Theatre’s decision to mount its Chicago premiere. Though it’s largely a time capsule of American politics four decades past, it’s interesting for its handling of some surprisingly timely themes in this election year and offers a vehicle for strong comic performances under the direction of Damon Kiely.
Weekend‘s racial and generational themes resonate with the current presidential campaign, as biracial Barack Obama faces off against Vietnam vet John McCain. But what’s most striking about the play is how similar MacGruder’s dilemma is to that faced by both Obama and McCain. MacGruder epitomizes political cynicism, yet his goal is noble. “The war must end and I’m the one who can end it,” he says. And yet to do that he must reach the White House. The question is, at what cost? Will he throw Beany and Louise under the bus, as both Obama and McCain have done to some of their longtime loyalists? Specifics aside, Weekend is ultimately about a politician who must choose between personal values and politics, which values only victory—and that’s a timeless topic.v
