Review: HILLARY AND CLINTON at West End Players Guild

I'm going to tell you to remember this name, so I might as well tell you how to pronounce it: Lucas Hnath. (That's H-N-A-T-H) And it's pronounced "NAYTH". Mr. Hnath is no longer a "rising American playwright"--he is quite "risen" by now. He is a significantly fine playwright. For ten years he has been very much in the public eye and he's been receiving award after award. His plays show a dazzling variety. Five years ago his play A Doll's House, Part 2 won eight Tonys. Since then it's had hundreds of productions all over the country.

The West End Players Guild (St. Louis' oldest small theater company) has opened a strong production of Hnath's earlier play, Hillary and Clinton. I can only call it (with apologies to Polonius) a very astute "historical-political-domestic-dramedy".

The play is set in 2008 in a budget hotel room on a snowy night in New Hampshire. We meet three folks with whom you are deeply familiar--and one I may need to introduce. They are: Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama--and Mark Penn (Hillary's campaign manager). Hillary is mid-campaign. She has just placed an embarrassing third in Iowa, and the polls look bad for her in New Hampshire.

Obama has offered her the vice-presidency--if she will withdraw now.

This is a desperate woman. She's had her eye on the presidency since her husband left that office seven years ago. She's smart, she's experienced, and by God does she work hard! What is this "likeability" nonsense?

Bill, with his vast likeability, has been banished from the campaign. He'd done some awkward things, making folks wonder whether he had some sub-conscious urge to sabotage his wife's campaign. Mark, her campaign manager, urges her to keep steady, to see hope in the future, and above all not to invite Bill back into the campaign. Mark thrives on polls and statistics. But are those the things Hillary needs right now?

Later, alone, she calls Bill, asking him to come--and to please bring lots of money.

All of this allows Mr. Hnath to give a deeply perceptive look at the dynamics of this quite singular marriage, and at the personal/professional trade-offs that must painfully occur in such very political lives. What will each sacrifice for the other? What will each sacrifice for their own ambition.

Why isn't she liked? Should she have divorced Bill after that absurd scandal? Should she divorce him now? Can he help her get elected? Does he really want to? How can she get a lot more money? Should she take up Obama's offer? Should she ("Oh, no!") should she--cry?

Hnuth gives wonderful depth and humanity to these far-too-famous people. You will be strongly engaged. You will, surprisingly, feel enormous sympathy for the famously "unlikeable" Hillary. There's a lot of keen political savvy. There's lots of humor, there's Bill's genuine charm, there is a subtly-delineated rational charm from Obama, there's frustration and pain from Hillary. And between the two Clintons? Competition? Jealousy? Resentment? Perhaps even just a bit of--love?

It's a really beautiful play.

Director Tim Naegelin draws compelling performances from his cast: Deborah Dennert as Hillary, Kurt Knoedelseder as Clinton, Tyson Cole as Mark, and Jonathan Garland as Barack.

Do we ever graduate from Junior High? This nerdy girl is so desperate to be "popular". She married the football captain--but that didn't really go so well. Now she's torn by jealousy of his gifts. Surely if all of America elected her president--well, then she'd be popular, right? But you just don't get to be popular by trying too hard. Life is so unfair.

Hillary and Clinton continues at the West End Players Guild through February 20.

(Photos by John Lamb)

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