‘Thoreau’ Theme Remains Timely

When Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee wrote “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail” in 1970, the Vietnam War was in full swing. The authors sidestepped their popular style (“Auntie Mame,” etc.) to make a statement about taxpayers being forced to back a war engineered by government for less than humanitarian purposes.

Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author, did just that. In 1846, in protest of the Mexican War, he refused to pay his taxes and was thrown into jail. The theme always has been and always will be pertinent.

Lawrence and Lee made Thoreau’s night in a cell the central happening in their play. But to fill out the evening, they provided a sort of chronology of Thoreau’s early years, his years at Walden Pond, his friendship with Ralph Waldo Emerson, a failed romance and a scattering of Thoreau family incidents. The center of the play has always been askew of its periphery.

In his staging at Revolving Door’s Tribune Theatre, director Nicholas Boicourt Jr. captures a good sense of period and effectively sets the mood of an idealistically naive, adolescent America and, especially, of the feisty personality of Thoreau. The play still looks like two different entities.

Adam Clark, as Thoreau, has a youthful edge that adds refreshing detail to the image of the philosopher stymied by the idiocy of those in power. Clark’s angry Thoreau is well-balanced by the shyness and simplicity of his character’s approach to the real world.

Most of the supporting cast has a good grasp of Boicourt’s vision of the era and its rural gentleness and a valid image of their characters’ meaning in Thoreau’s life.

Bradley A. Whitfield, as the complacent Emerson, again displays the ease and honesty with which he is able to play much older, and Jennifer D. Rendek is properly sedate and socially conscious as his wife. Robert Shirreffs is excellent as Bailey, Thoreau’s illiterate cellmate. His exhilaration when Thoreau teaches him to write his name is touching.

Director Boicourt is lively as Thoreau’s brother, John, and Jennifer Bishton is delightfully and truthfully opaque as the girl who would willingly marry either Thoreau brother.

Young Tyler Paris is outstanding as Emerson’s son, both in the naturalism of his readings and in the period patina of his performance.

The rest of the supporting cast, particularly Christopher Michael Egger as the rube who arrests Thoreau, and Paul De Rouen as a runaway slave, are capable and integral to the director’s conception. The exception is Greg Emerson as the reactionary Deacon Ball. His mock British accent is pretentiously overdone, and his one-note performance is out of key with an otherwise intelligent interpretation of a difficult play.

* “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail,” Tribune Theatre, 116 1/2 W. Wilshire Ave., Fullerton. Fridays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends Feb. 11. $5-$7. (714) 525-3403. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.

Adam Clark: Henry David Thoreau

Bradley A. Whitfield: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Jennifer D. Rendek: Lydian Emerson

Robert Shirreffs: Bailey

Nicholas Boicourt, Jr.: John Thoreau

Greg Emerson: Deacon Ball

Jennifer Bishton: Ellen Sewell

Tyler Paris: Edward Emerson

Christopher Michael Egger: Sam Staples

Paul De Rouen: Henry Williams

A Revolving Door production of the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee drama, produced by Christopher Michael Egger. Directed by Nicholes Boicourt Jr. Scenic design: Egger and Boicourt. Lighting design: Jim Book. Costume design: Shannon McDuff, Jean Spencer, Candace Verhees.