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UK Premiere

Jermyn Street Theatre and Moving Theatre
present

Corin Redgrave and Nick Waring
in

Trumbo

Nick Waring as Narrator, Corin Redgrave as Dalton Trumbo in Trumbo

Photo by Logan Riehl www.loganriehl.com

Based on the letters of Dalton Trumbo

by Christopher Trumbo

Directed by John Dove

Jermyn Street Theatre

10 performances only

ary Couzens

A review by Mary Couzens for EXTRA! EXTRA!

It is not our practice as writers to deliberately leave production length of run dates off the top of our reviews. However, in the case of this particular, must see performance, it is a certainty that the immediate future of the production itself, may be, at present, something of an uncertainty in light of the fact that it’s star Corin Redgrave, as of its press performance on the evening of March 18th, would have, sadly, been mourning the untimely loss of his talented, beautiful niece, actress Natasha Richardson, daughter of his elder sister, Vanessa, who tragically passed away that very night in New York City – may She rest in peace. Intended production dates, below are subject to change.

The letters of American screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, noted for his creative ingenuity and frankness still come across like a slightly acidic, but nonetheless fresh breath of air, their often darkly ironic tone pointedly reminding Americans that as a society, for the most part, they are still kidding themselves if they believe they are being totally truthful about the real lay of their land. Trumbo didn’t suffer fools – full stop, and as a result of his staunch refusal to own up to deeds he hadn’t done and/or agree with philosophies he didn’t believe in, before the House Un-American Activities Committee, whom he was first questioned by in 1947 in relation to, as many termed it, the ‘Red Scare’, he was just one of many actors, writers and directors in Hollywood to be blacklisted and subsequently barred from working there. Trumbo wouldn’t have endeared himself to Congress or any of his similarly gutless, overly patriotic in favour of making a buck comrades with his rightful assignation that Congress and the rest of the witch hunters ‘quietly deplore injustice while dining upon its victims.’ But as the great man subsequently stated, he ‘never advocated second-class citizenship for anyone,’ including himself, and as such, he was entitled to freedom of speech.

Photo by Logan Riehl www.loganriehl.com

In 1950, Trumbo and some of the other members of the ‘Hollywood Ten’ were sentenced to a year’s imprisonment, allegedly, for contempt of Congress. Following Trumbo’s dismissal from MGM, he and his young family left Los Angeles and were, for over twelve years after, in effect, in exile, and as such, continually subjected to ridicule and scorn, which Trumbo vehemently refuted, often by letter, a subject which this production often insightfully taps into. During those difficult years, Trumbo’s family, his wife, son Christopher and two younger daughters were forced along an increasingly downward social and economic spiral, culminating with a desperate move to Mexico City, before finally returning in a rag-tag state to Los Angeles, while ‘commie’ witch-hunts were still raging in Hollywood. Although Trumbo had continued to write scripts in exile, using ‘fences’ (other writers) as fronts, he was forced to work at a greatly reduced salary, at one point, completing twelve scripts, the work of ‘four to six years’ in just eighteen months, in order to keep his family afloat. History does, however, thankfully go on to relay that Trumbo finally managed to get a bit of his own back, at least in sprit, by winning an Oscar in 1956 under the drolly tongue in cheek name of Robert Rich. As truth is often, if not always, much more ironic than fiction, it was German film director Otto Preminger who resuscitated Trumbo’s career by demanding that the long blacklisted screenwriter receive credit for his adaptation of Leon Uris’ bestselling novel Exodus in 1960, the resulting multi-award winning film of which Trumbo’s son Christopher also worked on as Assistant Director.  Spartacus followed, for which actor Kirk Douglas assured Trumbo received credit for, and the rest, as ‘they’ may simplistically say, is part of filmic history. In 1993, a posthumous Academy Award was given to Trumbo’s family on his behalf for Roman Holiday (1953) for which both screenwriting credit and award had previously been given to Ian McLellan Hunter, Trumbo’s front.

The freely flowing structure of this compelling two-handed play includes its author, Christopher Trumbo, as its narrator, and actor Nick Waring, does a fine job in that role, of warmly carrying Mr. Redgrave’s scenes from place to place, interjecting wryly amusing anecdotes about his famous father along the way, and taking on the role of questioners at the his father’s legendary stormy meeting with the House Un-American Activities Committee, and, a more lightly interrogating reporter. As the play was written by Christopher, between scenes in which Mr. Redgrave reads and acts as Trumbo, Nick Waring becomes the son who affectionately reminisces about his esteemed, gutsy father, although the two never address one another.

Photo by Logan Riehl www.loganriehl.com

In one of Trumbo’s many successful Off-Broadway incarnations in New York, it became something of a tradition to have a different actor play Dalton Trumbo each night, offering his own interpretation of the writer’s correspondence and commentary. In this production about fearlessly truthful Trumbo, his character assumed new levels of reality as performed by Corin Redgrave. Mr. Redgrave, whose acting we’d also admired in the NT’s production of Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land some years back, initially, at least through the eyes of the uniformed, seemed to be struggling to reach his usually high level of performance. However, it quickly became clear that not only was he reading Trumbo’s words, but he was also, becoming the character. As such, the moments in Act I during which Mr. Redgrave, as Trumbo faces up to the House Un-American Activities Committee utilising Trumbo’s seemingly, off the cuff, highly intelligent, clever way of accessing a situation and quickly responding to it without really leaving any room for further questioning and lively, intellectually informed mannerisms during a hearing, were simply riveting. During the second half of the production, Mr. Redgrave’s performance continued to flow from strength to strength, so much so that during his characterisations more intense moments, the true depth and breadth of both men emerged, almost as if intertwined to the point that audience appreciation of both Trumbo and Redgrave (judging by the warm laughter and looks of admiration of many in the intimate Jermyn) were encouraged to escalate simultaneously. Hats off to director John Dove as well!

The setting for the performance, designed by Michael Taylor is simple, but apt – a blue tinged room, piled high with scripts, displaying images of some of the famous actors from films Trumbo wrote for such as Spencer Tracey, Paul Newman and Van Johnson, along with faded blued posters from Roman Holiday and The Brave One.

Photo by Logan Riehl www.loganriehl.com

It is our sincere hope that this heartfelt, right-on production moves on to greater acclaim in a much larger venue in future, as it rightfully deserves to. Though, I must admit that during the Conversation with...event we attended last month, prior to the production’s opening, we found it worrying that Gene David Kirk, the Jermyn Street Theatre’s new Artistic Director claimed he’ been the only one who’d expressed interest’ in staging the UK premiere of Christopher Trumbo’s successful, necessary play. That doesn’t speak too highly of the market in my opinion. However, as Dalton Trumbo himself would have been one to spit in the eye of ‘the establishment’, I have to add three enthusiastic cheers for Misters Kirk, Redgrave and Waring for staging this V.I.P. aka Very Important Production.

Dalton Trumbo with wife Cleo at House Un-American Activities Hearing 1947

17 March – 28 March, Tues-Sat @ 7.30pm
Tickets: £17 (£14 concs.)
Press Night: Wednesday 18 March 2009, 7.30pm

Box Office: 020 7287 2875 | www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk
Jermyn Street Theatre, 16b Jermyn Street, London, SW1Y 6ST

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