Review by Carol Rocamora…
As we watch the world’s leaders struggling in these perilous time, three arresting productions in London – all featuring historic world leaders – couldn’t be more timely and urgent in the lessons they offer.
Possibly the most striking one in relevance is Churchill in Moscow, Howard Brenton‘s intense new play now running at the Orange Tree Theatre. Last week the, world reeled with the shock from the explosive meeting between Trump, Vance, and Zelensky at the White House, where attempts at diplomacy collapsed and shouting and threats prevailed. This was a stunning contrast to the three-day meeting between Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin in August 2-4, 1942, when the British Prime Minister traveled to Moscow to talk to the Russian leader about the changing strategies of the West in its conflict with Hitler. A supreme diplomat, Churchill planned his upcoming meeting carefully. Within the first two hours of the meeting, he told Stalin that the West has changed it strategy and was now planning to attack Hitler from North Africa rather than head-on from the West. That was a buildup to what he knew would be alarming news to Stalin – namely that the West was not ready to support Russian troops to defend Stalingrad, which Hitler was attacking at that very moment.
That three-day historic meeting is dramatized brilliantly in a series of spellbinding scenes, featuring Roger Allam as Churchill, Peters Forbes as Stalin, and a superb supporting cast directed by Tom Littler. The drama focuses on a crucial, rarely examined element of international negotiations – namely, language and the role of the interpreter. Churchill and Stalin did not understand each other‘s languages, so they relied on their respective interpreters, who became subtle but key players in the communication and interaction, often modifying their interpretations to avoid direct confrontation between the men and at times attempting to further the goal of their hoped-for alliance.
An unexpected dimension of humor is inserted in this dynamic. In some instances, the interpreters avoid translating some of their respective leaders’ provocative comments (Churchill about Stalin: “His teeth are terrible!” Stalin about Churchill: “You look old!”). At other times, Churchill and Stalin speak in gibberish (causing the desperate interpreters to improvise) in an attempt to distract, as the leaders try to assess the other one’s mood and position.
The similarities between the Churchill/Stalin meeting and the Trump/ Zelensky meeting are both striking and painful. While the interaction between Stalin and Churchill wasn’t as explosive as last week’s White House interchange, Churchill became so frustrated that he planned on leaving on the third day without coming to a resolution with Stalin. However, a spontaneous agreement to meet after their final banquet for a midnight supper resulted in a private meeting between Churchill and Stalin without their interpreters. They drank, ate a suckling pig (prepared by Stalin’s daughter Svetlana), and relied on charade-like gestures to communicate with each other. This unofficial meeting was a great success (as well as a theatrical delight), further solidifying their alliance to defeat Hitler. If only Trump and Zelensky could have seen this play, they might have avoided the terrible damage that their own meeting has caused.
In the case of Shakespeare’s Richard II now playing at the Bridge Theatre, the King (played by Jonathan Bailey) must face a formidable adversary in the example of his cousin Bullingbrook (Royce Pierreson), who is challenging him for the crown. Outmaneuvered and overpowered, Richard backs down. In a traumatic scene between the two men observed by the entire court, Richard offers his crown in an outstretched hand to Bullingbrook – and then suddenly withholds it. Back and forth goes this stunning gesture (directed suspensefully and superbly by Nicholas Hytner) until Richard realizes he must yield.
In The Score by Oliver Cotton, now playing at the Haymarket, there is another confrontation between two great leaders – Frederick the Great of Prussia and the preeminent German composer of the time, J. S. Bach. The situation is somewhat similar to the Trump/Zelensky dynamic. In 1747, Bach has been invited to Potsdam by the warlike Frederick, and felt he has to go, pay homage to him, and hold his tongue over the atrocities the King’s army was committing in Bach’s home town of Leipzig. Meanwhile, Frederick ambushes Bach with a challenge to compose a fugue from a difficult phrase that the King himself has composed. Not only does Bach meet the challenge, he also summons his courage to speak truth to power on the issues of the King’s aggressive policies. (Voltaire, another character in the play, describes Prussia “not a State in a possession of an army, but an army in possession of a State.”)
As you can guess, Bach (the masterful Brian Cox) gains the respect of the King (a charismatic Stephen Hagan) resulting in a mutual understanding between the two men. As directed by the acclaimed Trevor Nunn, it’s a highly entertaining and enlightening history lesson.
What have we learned, then, as we watch our leaders struggle and spar in these perilous times? From Churchill in Moscow, we learn three lessons: first, that diplomacy is essential in the dynamic between world leaders; second, a leader must keep his/her eye fixed on the single most important goal of the negotiation, without being distracted; third, food, wine, and a sense of humor will help.
From The Score, we learn that one must be aware that speaking truth to power may have its consequences. In the case of Bach’s standing up to Frederick the Great, it worked. But not always, as Zelensky discovered only last week. A leader should have a “Plan B.”
From Shakespeare’s Richard II, we learn that the fall of a king is inevitable, and a leader must always bear in mind the precariousness of his power. “Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings,” Richard told his consorts after he gave up his rule. If only today’s leaders could heed Richard’s warning about what he called “the hollow crown.”
Churchill in Moscow by Harold Brenton, at the Orange Tree Theatre, directed by Tom Littler until March 8; The Score by Oliver Cotton, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, directed by Trevor Nunn until April 26; Richard II by Shakespeare, at the Bridge Theatre, directed by Nicholas Hytner until May 10.
