Attention! If you have an insatiable appetite for 20th century American social history, drop everything, and call Actors’ NET in Morrisville for a ticket to David W. Rintels’ “Clarence Darrow,” running Friday through Sunday.
The remarkable story of a fighting attorney’s involvement in precedent-setting social, legal and economic changes from the 1890s to shortly before World War II, “Clarence Darrow” features a masterly performance by veteran actor Rick Breitenfeld, retired president of WHYY-TV-FM in Philadelphia and an Actors’ NET regular.
Darrow (1857-1938) had a long career of defending the underdog in America’s courts. He took on many seemingly hopeless causes, from defending labor unionists accused of conspiracy and a Negro family that fought back when attacked by a white mob, to warding off the death penalty for the nearly indefensible murderers Leopold and Loeb.
His most famous case was the 1925 Scopes “Monkey Trial,” which delineated the controversy of creationism vs. evolution. Fittingly, Breitenfeld played the Darrow-like character Henry Drummond in Actors’ NET 2002 production of “Inherit the Wind,” the 1955 play based on the controversial trial by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee.
Playwright Rintels has fashioned an engrossing script from all these personal and public elements, drawing on Irving Stone’s 1941 fictionalized biography “Clarence Darrow for the Defense.” Although Darrow darts back and forth in time, remembering his parents, recalling childhood incidents, and filling in details of his two marriages and his friendships, the timeline is clear and the lulls and climaxes are delivered with a satisfying balance. Rintels is adept at foreshadowing events and keeping the audience tuned in to the significance of events as well as the facts.
Trim, white-haired Breitenfeld has a through command of the script.
Relaxed and offhand, he gently invites us into his thoughts and memories as if they are completely spontaneous. He does not try to assume an imitative vocal tone or accent, but suggests Darrow’s down-home Midwestern style as he rocks on his feet and tugs on his suspenders in moments of indecision. He manages the shifts of character, place and time with subtle changes of voice and movement, ranging from contented murmuring about his grandchildren, to stern admonition for a recalcitrant jury. He reaches full strength when Darrow himself is placed on trial for alleged jury-tampering.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this play is how contemporary it seems. The issues that arise are echoed in our own time, in our newspapers and TV reports. Just as one is thinking about the tremendous changes in practice and opinion that came about during Darrow’s lifetime – and sometimes because of Darrow – one also notices how the same issues are with us yet: free speech, civil rights, academic freedom, political accountability, separation of church and state, and the ever disturbing death penalty. As one playgoer remarked after the play’s curtain, “Where is Darrow when we need him?”
Cheryl Doyle provides Breitenfeld with an all-purpose set that covers home, office and courtroom and supplies just enough moving around space to prevent monotony. The lighting design highlight shifts of time and place.
Although this play is likely too cerebral for young children, your smart teens will find it absorbing and perhaps eye-opening.
Anita Donovan