Play About an Orator Deserves Closer Listen

On July 25, The Times printed a review of “Sheridan,” a new play at the La Jolla Playhouse (“ ‘Sheridan’ Goes Astray at the Parallels,” by Don Braunagel). The accompanying photograph--which stands alone (with the possible exception of my recent colonoscopy) as the most grotesque image ever associated with me--aptly foreshadowed my experience of the review, where I soon read (to my stunned disbelief) the following sentence: “. . . Sherman Howard, as Sheridan, occasionally slipped from his Irish accent. . . .”

Kindly permit me to share some relevant contextual information: Richard Brinsley Sheridan was indeed Irish. His father was, among other things, an ambitious educator who had developed an innovative program calculated to provide his fellow Irish citizens with social entree and the hope of upward mobility within the rigid British caste system. The cornerstone of this elaborate program was the mastery of proper British elocution, which young Richard Sheridan achieved at an early age.

Nevertheless, throughout his career as a British parliamentarian and superb orator, Sheridan was fiercely proud of his Irish heritage and made no effort to conceal it. He was known to lapse into a crude Irish brogue to shocking comic effect. Furthermore, he had not only been born into a theatrical family (his father also was a renowned actor, his mother a playwright), but as owner and manager of the Drury Lane Theatre for 30 years, Sheridan spent much of his life among the finest professional actors of his era. Given this collection of facts, it is easy to imagine that Sheridan shared that penchant, so common among actors, for mimicry of various modes of speech.

Early in our rehearsal process, our director, Mark Brokaw, decided for purposes of dramatic clarity that our Sheridan should generally speak with an Irish brogue, distinguishing him from the surrounding cast of British characters.

Shortly after Sheridan takes the stage, however, there are numerous instances in which he blatantly mocks the preferred British dialect--clearly establishing his ability to alter his own mode of speech. Throughout the play, he utilizes that ability in a more fluid, nuanced manner, suiting his mode of speech to those with whom he is speaking. His working-class mistress gets the raw brogue whereas the prince of Wales merits a more softened dialect. This approach was taken under the guidance of our vigilant dialect coach, Joel Goldes.

Frankly, I find it difficult to imagine how any but the most distracted (or disgruntled) observer could fail to grasp that such instances of dialect modification were intentional, character-driven and situation-specific.

Tellingly, this lapse in critical discernment characterizes the dismissive tone of the review as a whole. Whatever the alleged flaws in this script, it should be abundantly evident to any astute theatergoer that this young playwright, David Grimm, writes in delicious language with passion and vivid intelligence. Moreover, the thematic aspirations that infuse this piece--the sheer size and scope of the canvas--its brash experimentation with language, style and theatrical convention all reflect a brave and ambitious vision. Such vision is rare.

If nothing less than unqualified success is to be acknowledged and encouraged (all other efforts failing under the scythe of scathing ridicule), does that not promote a general atmosphere of timid conservatism in the arts?

Finally, in more than 25 years of professional experience, I have rarely enjoyed the privilege of working with a cast of such uniformly superb actors. These are passionate, big-hearted, highly skilled performances. To blithely brush them aside in the predictable closing paragraphs with the miserly doling out of indifferent and all too familiar adjectives (“sympathetic,” “spunky,” “supportive”) belies a jaded perception that, thankfully, is not shared by the theater full of strangers who nightly whistle, shout and, on occasion, rise to their feet at our curtain call.

Problematic though this production may be, it was certainly worthy of a respectful and serious critical response. From my admittedly partisan point of view, it received neither in the review.

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Sherman Howard is a Los Angeles-based actor with extensive experience in theater, film and television.