‘Divide’ fails to conquer the real drama of politics

A cardinal rule of political debating, says a character in David Edgar’s “Continental Divide,” is to provide short answers to the hard questions and long answers to the softballs.

In writing his nearly six-hour staged epic about a gubernatorial campaign in a state that appears to be California, Edgar concentrated on the long answers -- and evaded a few of the hard questions and choices. He hasn’t done the trimming and shaping that would keep his fascinating material theatrically compelling.

Best known for adapting that earlier epic “Nicholas Nickleby,” and for his play about the politics of Eastern Europe, “Pentecost,” Edgar has clearly done his homework about American politics and idioms. Without reading about his background, you wouldn’t know he is British. But occasionally the details he has so meticulously mastered get in the way of the story’s dramatic effect.

Now at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and coming next fall to Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the project consists of two plays. “Mothers Against” is about the Republican campaign. “Daughters of the Revolution” is billed as a play about the Democratic campaign, but actually it devotes more time to two generations of left-leaning radicals than it does to the governor’s race.

The umbrella title, “Continental Divide,” also is somewhat misleading if it implies that the two sides in its fictional campaign flow in opposite directions, never meeting. In fact, Edgar demonstrates how bland pragmatism usually takes precedence over principle in both campaigns.

The sense of a “continental divide” is more justified, however, as a description of the disparate structures and scopes of the two plays. Although “Mothers Against” is only about 10 minutes shorter than its mate, it depicts only two days, within one private home. “Daughters of the Revolution” sprawls over many locales and several time periods and uses a variety of multimedia effects, as well as a larger cast that includes the actors who are in “Mothers Against” -- sometimes in the same roles, sometimes not.

While “Mothers” feels mildly claustrophobic, too hermetically detached from the outside world, “Daughters” has the opposite problem -- it bites off more topics than it should chew. As far as the plot goes, the plays can be seen in either order.

“Daughters,” in a bigger theater, will be seen by more people. It’s the story of Michael (Mark Murphey), a community college dean and former Vietnam-era radical. For his 55th birthday, his wife obtains Michael’s FBI file and throws a party at which his friends recite parts of it. But midway through the fun, Michael becomes troubled by the file’s reference to a 1972 meeting he attended at which a potentially violent kidnapping was discussed.

He becomes obsessed -- not with his own remorse but with finding out who snitched, among the nine people who were at the meeting. This turn of events, he believes, caused him to lose tenure at his college teaching post -- which helped destroy his first marriage and eventually alienated him from his son.

We have only Michael’s word that this was true -- the ex-wife and son are far away. Michael’s failure to thoroughly examine his role in these events makes his obsession -- and to some extent, the play itself -- seem hollow at the core.

Instead, the play centers on Michael’s quest to track down the others at the meeting. We get plenty of long-winded talk about the crumbling of youthful ideals and snapshots of how different people coped with their disillusionment.

At one point, Michael crosses paths with a gathering of mostly younger environmental radicals in the woods. Cue the play’s most kinetic scene, in which the younger radicals rappel down giant redwoods.

What does all this have to do with the Democratic gubernatorial campaign? Several plot points intersect. Both plays are set after an activist was shot to death by a security guard at a state facility where genetically modified poplars are being grown -- and this event might inflame the campaign. Another hot issue is a loyalty oath ballot proposition that could directly affect several characters.

One of the ex-radicals Michael seeks is now the campaign manager (Linda Alper) for the Democratic candidate; another (Michael Elich) is a Democratic fund-raiser. A third is a rabid conservative (Richard Elmore) who lives with the woman (Susannah Schulman) who’s the stand-in for the Democratic candidate in the Republican debate rehearsals.

Still, Edgar’s decision to emphasize Michael, instead of the Democratic candidate (Demetra Pittman), is misguided. The play gets some mileage out of a political indiscretion from the candidate’s youth, but too often “Daughters” is mired in the past instead of caught up in the neck-and-neck political combat of the present. By the time Edgar returns to the campaign, the story feels convoluted and unwieldy.

“Mothers Against” also has moments that feel information overloaded, but at least its structure allows Edgar to concentrate on the Republican candidate (Bill Geisslinger), whose libertarian principles are challenged by his brother and campaign chairman (Tony DeBruno) and the campaign manager (Elich).

The GOP play also has the time to fill in some of the psychological detail that is lacking in “Daughters.” The candidate here is a scion of a political dynasty that was built on a timber fortune, and he has complicated relationships with his brother and his daughter (Christine Williams), who is a tree-sitting radical in “Daughters.”

Berkeley Repertory Theatre artistic director Tony Taccone’s stagings support the text beautifully, but the text needs rethinking. The twists and turns of last year’s actual California gubernatorial race were more engrossing.

*

‘Continental Divide’

Where: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, Ore.

When: Repertory dates vary.

Ends: July 13

Price: $21.75 to $53 per play

Contact: (541) 482-4331 or www.osfashland.org

Running time: “Daughters of the Revolution,” 2 hours, 55 minutes; “Mothers Against,” 2 hours, 45 minutes.