The Complete Idiot's Guide to Michael Frayn's Democracy

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Broadway does this to us every few seasons or so. A must-see play comes to town, usually a Brit import, that demands us to pay attention and tests our knowledge of literature, politics, history or a maddening combination of the threesome. Not like good 'ol American dramas like Streetcar or Salesman where you can get by from just following the emotional oomph. No, those Brits like to see Yank playgoers squirm. "Let's see if your American public school and state university education will get you through Invention of Love! You think that one was difficult? Well now here's Copenhagen! What's wrong Ivy Leaguers -- too many big words for you?"

Rather unfairly, these plays earn the moniker "snob hit". Nothing against the author or the people who actually see the play and honestly get it and enjoy it, but mostly because those who don't actually get it feel pressured to have strong opinions on it in order to maintain their self-respect as a hip, New York cultural maven who can keep pace with, if not dominate, intellectually stimulating cocktail conversation.

You know how it is. You're at some gathering or another filled with Gotham's brightest critical minds. There's Michael Feingold at a corner table describing the new hit drama in town as, "...a modern tragedy of political idealism that evokes Racine as often as it does the morning papers." You head for the bar and there's David Finkle calling it, "...a deliciously sly spin on Carlo Goldoni's Servant of Two Masters." You frantically look for a group discussing Dame Edna's new show when you feel a tap on your shoulder and suddenly there's Matthew Murray telling you about, "Lovable Noises Off-style farceurs facing down the Uncertainty Principle with the detached sentimentality of Copenhagen's trio of nuclear orbiters." A pair of attractive ladies (substitute attractive men if you like) who apparently have a thing for discussions of the Uncertainty Principle join in the conversation and then the smart one asks the question you've been avoiding all evening: "So what did you think of Michael Frayn's Democracy?"

Whatever you do, do not panic.

And for the love of God, don't try and get away with a glib remark like, "I hear Sondheim's turning it into a musical."

The important thing to remember is that you should never try and discuss the play without having seen it first. Alexander Woollcott got away with that sometimes, but he had George S. Kaufman (who also didn't see the play) watching his back. And it's a pretty fun thing to go see Democracy. Just don't get so hung up thinking you have to understand it all. You enjoyed Noises Off, didn't you? Did you actually understand all of that one? Of course not.

See, playwright Michael Frayn and director Michael Blakemore are very, very smart guys. They've forgotten more things than people like you or I will ever know. (Okay, maybe not you but certainly I.) And what smart guys do when they're putting on a play about 1970's German parliamentary politics is to make sure it can be accessible to the proletariat (that's us) by presenting the subject in a way so we can compare it to things we're more familiar with. (Except Bill Clinton. This play has nothing to do with Bill Clinton. There is absolutely nothing in this play about a charming, well-spoken womanizing national leader that can be minutely interpreted as a commentary on Bill Clinton.)

Okay, first a few basics. Imagine, if you can, a single country so divided when it comes to political and religious beliefs that it becomes for all intents and purposes two separate nations. Can you imagine something like that? I know it's hard, but try. That was post World War II Germany, divided into East and West. Now, when things like this happen most Americans would assume the division would come between The Left and The Right. But this is Europe, so the division comes between The Left and The Really Left. Don't think Democrats vs. Republicans. It's more Democrats vs. Ralph Nader.

Oh, speaking of Democrats, the country that's called the German Democratic Republic -- they're the Communists. The one that's called the Federal Republic of Germany -- that one's a democracy like us except everybody votes.

Now like I said before, Michael Blakemore is a smart guy. He knew that if he brought the British cast to Broadway, we'd be all confused hearing a bunch of Germans talking like Ian McKellen. So instead he loaded up the cast with a bunch of familiar New York stage actors, and the brilliant thing he did was cast them in ways that would make it easier for us to figure out who's who.

So the guy in charge of West Germany (they're The Left, but not Really Left) isn't exactly the brightest light on the menorah (Happy Hanukkah, everybody!) but he knows how to work the crowds and the ladies love him. (Remember, the play is not about Bill Clinton.) In other words, he's got no talents, but he can keep 'em way off balance. No, not Jerry Orbach... it's James Naughton! See where Blakemore is going with this? By casting the former Billy Flynn he saves us pages of exposition.

And who do you think he's got playing the heir apparent? Kinda like the vice-president who'd like to be the guy in charge but he's a little meek and everyone treats him like a non-entity. Doesn't that sound a bit like Herbie in Gypsy? Of course! It's John Dossett! Oh, and Robert Prosky -- he's the guy helping Dossett out -- you notice how he looks a lot like Santa Claus? That's to remind us that he has access to everyone's personal files. He knows who's been naughty and who's been nice to the party.

Then you got the East Germans. Michael Cumpsty, of course, is a perfect communist. Whether he's Julian Marsh, Henry Higgins or some naked dude in Enchanted April, no Broadway actor comes off like a scary totalitarian like Michael Cumpsty. The thing you gotta remember about Cumpsty is that he's not really part of the action. He's on the side sitting in some cafe waiting for his spy, Richard Thomas, to report back to him. He's there, but he's not really there. It's like Melanie Griffith in Chicago. The idea is that Thomas gets a job as one of Naughton's office flunkies so that he can spy on him, but then Naughton gives him the old razzle dazzle and wins his admiration. To complicate matters, Naughton realizes Thomas is spying on him, so he starts spying on the guy in return. To tell the truth, I think Blakemore messed up here a little. See, Richard Thomas looks so much like Michael Riedel that I'd give him the part of the guy hanging out in the cafe. You can pretend it's Angus McIndoe. Then you can imagine that Cumpsty is a spy who gets a job as a dresser at Wonderful Town so that he can find dirt on Donna Murphy (the leader of West Germany) for Riedel's column, thus engineering her downfall.

And that's the wonderful thing about Democracy. You don't have to really understand all the history and politics to have a basic idea of what's going on and enjoy the spy games and political intrigue. Oh sure, a few Googles on German history after World War II might help you delve a little deeper, but really these elections, the whole world... just show business. And with Michael Frayn and Michael Blakemore, you're working with a couple of stars.

Photos by Don Perdue, Top to Bottom:
1. Robert Prosky
2. (l-r) Richard Thomas and Michael Cumpsty
3. (l-r) Richard Thomas and James Naughton
4. (l-r) Terry Beaver, Lee Wilkof, Richard Masur, John Christopher Jones, Robert Prosky, John Dossett and Julian Gamble

For more from Michael Dale visit dry2olives.com