'Frost/Nixon' riveting drama
The Footlight Players are back!
"Frost/Nixon," Peter Morgan's affecting drama of the interviews done for British TV three years after Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency in disgrace, is the best show I have seen on the Queen Street stage since the glory years.
Opening Friday night to a half-house that should be full from now on, the fast-paced play features a brilliant cast that director Robbie Thomas put together with extreme care.
Mark Landis, an Actors Equity member and professor of theater at the College of Charleston, caught the presence and spirit of Nixon with an uncanny portrayal of the man's hubris, bravado, vulnerability and ultimate defeat at the hands of the lightweight interviewer and the unforgiving, reductive truth of the television camera.
Jamie Smithson, without for a moment attempting to imitate David Frost, offered a full characterization of the man whose career was made with this series of interviews, still the most-viewed news program ever.
The supporting actors form a strong and essential foundation, including Boogie Dabney as Jim Reston and the effective narrator, Josh Wilhoit, Christian Self, Randy Risher and Rob Maniscalco.
The structure of the piece and Richard Heffner's set, with clever projections and scrims, add other elements of authenticity to this powerful, riveting production.
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