The Naked Theatre’s
production of Kissinger and Tell by Jim Grover and Steve Gilmour is
a hilarious but poignant political satire. Using as its base the 1971 news
stories circulated that Secretary of State Kissinger was visiting Prime Minister
Edward Heath, the play explores a "what if" scenario if an actor had
been hired to play Kissinger in London while the real Kissinger was actually on
his historic visit to China.
Grover and Gilmour
use elements familiar from Angels in America such as Margaret Thatcher
appearing in Kissinger's dream and a misunderstanding (over sexual orientation)
between Kissinger and Heath. Valerie
Kaneko Lucas theatricalizes the script using juxtaposition between two sets of
dialogue, period music, and each actor's strength and uniqueness.
The focus of the
fictional meeting between an actor playing Kissinger and Heath is the demand by
the US for the UK to get involved in the Vietnam War. This element of the play resonates today
after Britain's involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Gareth Pilkington's
role as an actor playing Kissinger, being put into this diplomatic situation
reminds the audience that "politics
is all acting." Keith Ackermann's
portrays the Prime Minister Heath as someone who is being pressured by the Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home played by Richard Ings. Louisa Gummer's portrayal of Thatcher
includes a tirade about gardening and bombing that is quite chilling, knowing
what would happen in the 1980s after she became Prime Minister. Marc Blaidd's Nixon with a distorted mask is effective in emphasizing the president's well-known bulliness and terrible temper.
Colour House
Theatre, Wimbledon, UK
July 25, 2014
