Review: The Chief Stumbles in Capital Fringe's SECRET HONOR

Richard Nixon is no stranger to the stage, political or theatrical. And yet, 22 years after his death and 42 years since his landmark resignation from office we're still left wondering why? Why didn't he burn the tapes? Why did he engage in illegal activities as president? Why did he have such an overwhelming sense of paranoia?

Bootcamp Theatre's production of Secret Honor at Capital Fringe attempts to answer those questions, only to stumble.

A tape recorder, bottle of alcohol and the 37th president are alone in a room. The purpose is for Nixon to record his last testament, his last defense of the dirty tricks that defined his political career while attempting to salvage the reputation and honor of his presidency.

The problem with Donald Freed and Arnold M. Stone's play is that it barely scratches the surface in exploring an otherwise complicated man. Almost all of Nixon's public life is reviewed in Secret Honor's one hour runtime and the results prove inclusive.

Nixon himself never gave a reason for the severe hatred and distrust he felt of others. The closes he ever got was his apology to the nation in the 1977 David Frost interviews, a clip of which is overheard at the beginning of this production.

As a result, Freed and Stone are left playing armchair therapists, creating a character based on the psychological caricatures that publicly defined him throughout his decades-long career. What we are left with is a portrait of Nixon that is a hybrid of Hamlet and Norman Bates.

Additionally, by covering Nixon's life, rather than a singular event such as his presidency or Watergate, the fast-paced nature of the play might prove too much for some theatergoers. It's been four decades since Nixon resigned from office, and three decades since Secret Honor was first published. Unless you're familiar with political history, references to Nelson Rockefeller and Helen Gahagan Douglas might otherwise prove confusing. Nixon rants against Rockefellar, but unless you're familiar with the animosity between the men starting with the 1960 Republican Presidential Primary, you may be asking "who's Rockefeller?" That's why it would benefit the play to either expand its format, or succinctly focus on one event rather than Nixon's entire life.

That's not to take away from Steve Scott's engrossing portrayal of Nixon. Scott's performance is dynamic as the rambling, at times incoherent, always vitriolic former president. Freed and Stone have incorporated Nixon's penchant for profanity into the script, which Scott delivers with great relish. He also bears a striking resemblance to the man, which only enhances his tour-de-force performance. Secret Honor opens with dimmed lights, the audio of Nixon's resignation speech playing overhead and Scott onstage. Physically, the resemblance is uncanny.

"Anyone can become president" is the tagline for Secret Honor. However, in this play we're left wondering how that was with the Nixon Freed and Stone present us. In other stage interpretations, such as Peter Morgan's excellent Frost/Nixon, we see a glimmer of the leader that won the 1968 and 1972 presidential elections and masterminded the entrée into China. Here we see none of that.

It's clear that some theatergoers are attending Secret Honor with distinct feelings about Nixon. The gentleman next to me at Friday's first performance spoke passionately about his 'hatred' for the president, having lived thru the seventies, and the consequences of Nixon's behavior as our nation's chief executive. Sadly though, despite Freed and Stone's attempts to have him atone for those actions in Secret Honor, we're still left wondering why?

Runtime is 60 minutes with no intermission.

Warning: this production features profanity.

Secret Honor has four more performances at Capital Fringe's Caos on F - 923 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and more information please click here.

Photo: Secret Honor. Credit: Bootcamp Theatre

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