Picture of a Nation

In her article, “The Temptation of Political Theatre,” Sylvie Drake discusses at length Vaclav Havel’s “Temptation,” currently playing at the Mark Taper Forum.

For whatever it is worth, at a recent performance a Czech journalist sought me out to say how accurate a picture the play drew of Czechoslovakia and how strongly he connected to it. Ms. Drake comments that “Temptation” “never gets specific.” For us the play is very specific: a visceral portrait of life in Czechoslovakia right now.

One also must take issue with Dan Sullivan’s take on Mark Harelik as the “wrong actor” to play Foustka. As Harelik is creating a role not bound by definitive realizations of either the part or the play, it seems presumptuous to define the “type” of actor appropriate to it.

The Taper has brought “Temptation” to Los Angeles because we feel that it is an important play for our time written by an important writer who continues to create art heroically out of the specific experience of life in Czechoslovakia and who cannot benefit from the normal collaborative process by which plays are brought to life. If the play leaves some audiences and critics unsatisfied and unresolved, that is a true and honest representation of the state of affairs under which this brave man and his countrymen now live.

GORDON DAVIDSON

Artistic Director/Producer

Mark Taper Forum

Los Angeles