Keeping it fair

Fair Game

Through April 12

Directed by Tracy Brigden

City Theatre

(412)…

Fair Game

Through April 12

Directed by Tracy Brigden

City Theatre

(412) 431-CITY

City Theatre’s “Fair Game” combines a witty script with a charismatic cast that gives the audience a behind-the-scenes look at a woman’s presidential campaign. Engaging and thought-provoking, the audience is instantly drawn in to this delicate world of scandals and secrets, where outward appearances always give way to something more.

The action follows the campaign of Gov. Karen Werthman, a well-intentioned middle-aged woman. Instrumental in her journey to the White House is her campaign manager, Miranda Carter, a woman who knows what it will take to win an election. When the scene opens, Karen’s son Simon, a professor at Princeton, has unexpectedly paid them a visit at the Governor’s mansion. When Miranda is delighted, engaging him in their ongoing battle of “name that political quote,” the friction between Simon and his mother are obvious. Throughout the play the tension builds between the two as family secrets begin to unravel. While Karen attends her Super Tuesday victory celebration, Simon informs Miranda that the reporters won’t be interested in his mother, but rather the reason he was dismissed from Princeton on the grounds of sexual misconduct.

As the story unfolds, Simon’s relationship with an assertive young woman in his political science class, Elizabeth Rain, is depicted through a series of well-executed flashbacks. Meanwhile, Miranda and Simon struggle to find the right “spin” for this blow to their campaign, grappling with conflicting issues of family values and political platforms. And amidst the scandal, Karen struggles to face her opponent, Sen. Bill Graber, a smooth-talking southern gentleman who could convince America that the Bill of Rights was inhibiting their personal freedoms.

The entire cast is sensational, dominated by the outstanding performances given by Ron Menzel (Simon), Chandler Vinton (Miranda), and John Shepard (Sen. Bill Graber). They create characters that are both endearing and vulnerable as we watch them struggle with the past, present and future. Menzel and Vinton’s chemistry dominates their scenes. The air was charged as the two bantered and teased until, at last, they shared a kiss, revealing to us their characters’ past involvement. As we learn more about their past relationship and current friendship, the play follows them as they face the scandal with Elizabeth and the battle with Sen. Graber. Performed with a primarily stationary set, the production successfully uses lighting and the actors’ body language to differentiate between the flashbacks and the present.

In Karl Gajdusek’s sharp and witty script he does a sensational job of setting the backstage political scene. The script touches on current issues and politicians, inviting us to reminisce about such things as the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the spelling of “potato,” while making us reach even further back into our political history through the “name that quote” game. Yet despite the decades of platforms, scandals and personas that Gajdusek had at his fingertips, he was able to create his own unique characters and problems in “Fair Game.”

In “Fair Game,” City Theatre brings together a talented cast and a clever, fresh script. Giving us a glimpse of the intriguing world of behind-the-scenes politics, it struggles with the ideas of political corruption and the effort to maintain family values, and family itself. But ever present throughout the play is a struggle for honesty and an ever-present desire to play a “fair game.”