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Evolution debate worth the sweat
(by Herb Hammer - November 04, 2009)
THEATER, BY HERB HAMMER
Evolution debate worth the sweat
Some political arguments just won't go away. Take for instance the 1925 "Scopes Monkey Trial," where a Tennessee school teacher was tried for teaching Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species." The trial drew national attention and turned out to be a battle of creationism vs. evolutionism. Tennessee law had ruled against the teaching of evolution in the schools at that time.
Thirty years later, Clevelander Jerome Lawrence, a Glenville High School graduate, and his writing partner, Robert Edwin Lee, wrote "Inherit the Wind," a fictionalized version of the trial. The play was an immediate success.
Here it is, 84 years after the original trial, and the Cleveland Play House is staging a revival of the 1955 play on the Drury Theatre stage.
The play holds up rather well, though 30 years has caused much of the language to have an overdone, almost musty feel. In spite of this, director Seth Gordon stays true to the original look and feel of Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Lee's work.
When William Jennings Bryan turned up in Tennessee to prosecute for the state, he was already a failed politician. The playwrights refer to his character as Matthew Harrison Brady, who is welcomed by the townspeople. Brady has arrived to defend the Bible.
Clarence Darrow, the famed defender of lost causes, arrives to defend the young school teacher. The playwrights refer to him as Henry Drummond.
The drama follows the trial as closely as it can, but this is fiction, and Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Lee mix drama and comedy and wind up with a troubling finish.
The young school teacher has broken the law and must be found guilty. Darrow actually took the case to the state Supreme Court, which upheld the law but threw out the verdict.
Though the thrust of the play pits Brady against Drummond, the touching moments in this production are the most moving.
Young Rachel Brown, played splendidly by Sarah Nedwek, is the reverend's daughter, torn between her father's biblical beliefs and the young school teacher's steadfast teachings. Miss Nedwek nearly steals the play from the two protagonists.
The second act makes a fool of Brady, as Drummond outwits him at every turn. After Drummond's expert witnesses are disallowed, the bombastic Mr. Brady is invited to the witness chair, where Drummond, who turns the crowd against Brady, asks only that a man by allowed to think.
Scott Jaeck has apparently studied Clarence Darrow to the point of looking exactly like him. There are moments when he holds his audience spellbound.
Ed Dixon is splendid as Matthew Harrison Brady holding onto what dignity he has left while defending the Bible.
Others worth mention are Dudley Swetland, as the reluctant judge, and Mark Alan Gordon, as the determined Rev. Brown.
Michael B. Raiford's turntable set works quite well as we switch from the courthouse to the town square. But the director has placed the jury directly behind Brady on the witness stand, where he must struggle, turning his head to plead to them. This is a damaging flaw.
We've also had enough of this brow wiping, neck wiping. We know it's a hot Tennessee summer; why not get on with it?
Even with all the nitpicking, "Inherit the Wind" is certainly worth the effort. The argument persists in many parts of the country even today. Creationism, evolution, or perhaps, in some way, both.
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