Performances Compound the Interest of ‘Conflict’

The Long Beach Playhouse production of Jay Broad’s “A Conflict of Interest,” about high-level shenanigans in the Oval Office and surrounding environs, closes on Nov. 2--just before the national elections. It’s good timing.

This play gives one something to think about, given the charges and countercharges that both major parties take such joy in laying before the public in an election year.

The plot reads like a news story. Associate Supreme Court Justice Jacob Balding has been accused in an important Washington column of accepting a payment of $60,000 from a large corporation. It is, we find out, an innocent transfer of funds, but President Billy Maxwell is out to get Balding, and the Senate Judiciary Committee is lining up like a firing squad.

The play has plenty of fireworks and some fine insights into political game-playing, and Broad has drawn detailed and realistic portraits of the combatants. If they sometimes fall into stereotype, it’s only because real people often do too.

Director Darlene Hunter-Chaffee has shaped the action well and neatly balances the various shadings and colorings of the characters in a more-than-competent company. But she hasn’t given the staging a sense of theatrical urgency, a feeling that, for most of the characters, these are life and death issues.

Jack Thomas is exceptional as Balding. So is Michael Weller as Lewis Amory, his brother-in-law, ex-legal partner and general warhorse. They have firm grips on their characterizations of these two political old hands--their honesty, their courage and their cynicism.

Jack Messenger, though he takes an easy way out by aping some very identifiable Nixonian physical mannerisms, is impressive as President Billy, a primarily dishonest and ruthless commander-in-chief.

*

Jinny Wilcott, as Balding’s wife, doesn’t go much beyond pleasant and complacent but does provide just the sort of emotional buffer Balding would require. Sydney Cutler, the slightly sleazy arriviste of a presidential special assistant, is played by Lisa Layne Griffiths with a surface patina of charm that is effectively transparent. Murray Rubin is effective as the columnist who caused it all, particularly as he crumbles when his journalistic backstabbing backfires.

Outstanding in the large cast is Bob Connor as crusty, wise U.S. Chief Justice Harry Griffin. This Griffin has enough of a sense of humor to laugh at himself, enough compassion to separate the emotional ingredients in this Washington stew and the wisdom to see the clearest way to save reputations and, in the process, the dignity of the high court. Connor’s restraint makes his portrait full-blooded and true, in a role that easily could be overplayed.

* “A Conflict of Interest,” Long Beach Playhouse Mainstage, 5021 E. Anaheim St. Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. Ends Nov. 2. $10-$15. (310) 494-1616. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Jack Thomas: Justice Jacob Balding

Jinny Wilcott: Liz Balding

Michael Weller: Lewis Amory

Lisa Layne Griffiths: Sydney Cutler

Jack Messenger: President William Maxwell

Bob Connor: Chief Justice Harry Griffin

Murray Rubin: Joe Farnsworth

A Long Beach Playhouse production of a play by Jay Broad, directed by Darlene Hunter-Chaffee. Scenic design: Michael Keith Allen. Costumes: Donna Fritsche. Lighting design: Frank McKown. Sound design: Robert Chaffee. Stage manager: Kathleen Rainey.