An amusing, enthralling, and moving piece of theatre

 Play: Clarence Darrow
Author: David W Rintels
Venue: The Old Vic, London
Stage Director: Thea Sharrock
Cast: Kevin Spacey
Running time: 1hr 50 mins including a 20-minute interval

Ninety minutes spent watching Kevin Spacey do his thing was never going to be a bad way to pass an evening and so I surprise no one, least of all myself, when I say that CLARENCE DARROW last night at the Old Vic was an absolute treat.

During Spacey’s tenure as artistic director of the Old Vic, he’s managed to restore its reputation and bring in the big names and world class talent he promised he would, so it says a lot that his performance of Darrow is a highlight- even amongst all these other achievements. 

It’s not the first time Spacey has played this role- this season of shows (ending 11^th April) is the second run of the production, and the third time he’s played the character Clarence Darrow overall. Unsurprising then that he should inhabit the role so completely; as Darrow, Spacey seems much older than his own 55 years, moving around the set in a stooping, shuffling manner, gesticulating wildly and brow permanently furrowed with the memories of all the injustices he has lived through.

And, make no mistake, this is essentially what CLARENCE DARROW is, an hour and a half of an elderly lawyer pacing his cluttered office as he recalls his life and his most famous cases. Perhaps it doesn’t sound especially thrilling but David W Rintels wrote the play in 1975 and there is a reason we are still seeing it performed forty years later. Based on the real life and career of Clarence Seward Darrow, a prominent American lawyer and key member of the American Civil Liberties Union, Rintels’ writing paints a vivid picture of the character and the extraordinary times he lived in. Pair this with Spacey’s considerable acting prowess and it doesn’t feel like a one-man show at all. At times the stage feels as though it is bursting with other characters.

It helps too that Spacey is an unpredictable performer; he walks among the audience looking them squarely in the eye, picks people to read a document aloud, and at one point even squeezes himself between two lucky folk in the front row, throwing his arm around one of them and declaring he is a firm believer in free love, to peals of laughter from all around. Normally I live in fear of audience participation and so it’s a testament to Mr Spacey’s likeability that last night I was absent-mindedly wondering what it might have been like to be seated on the front row.  Wherever you end up sitting at the Old Vic, you are guaranteed a good view; the play is performed in the round and Spacey moves around the space so expansively that even when he nips out of sight it’s never for very long. As a venue it has the unusual feel of being a crowded and yet intimate space, perfect for a one man-play.

Though the final few minutes of the performance were noticeably more saccharine than the hour or so preceding it, it will still go down in my memory as an amusing, enthralling, and moving piece of theatre that I would recommend anyone to see. We can only hope that Kevin Spacey will give this one man show a third run at some point in the near future because – what a man! What a show! The Old Vic won’t be the same without you, Kevin.

Verdict

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