- David Hare, Nicholas Hynter, 26/05/22
David Hare has the magical ability
to weave a passionate feat of story out of the most specific and dense social
cases. Straight Line Crazy takes Caro’s
epic biography of NY’s Robert Moses, The
Power Broker and turns it into triumphant dramatic storytelling.
Moses is the city’s most
celebrated, yet most controversial urban planner, mapping out his ideal state:
miles of roads connecting the natural scape of Long Island to Manhattan’s
concrete jungle, and then connecting its concrete to its concrete. His intentions are
exposed in the paradox between his achievement and infamy; Ralph Fiennes is
blistering as the fiercely stubborn, yet driven Moses.
His racist motivations are exposed by the ever victorious middle class protestors, they speak for others, speak over others and are listened to over those Others. Regardless, we finally watch Fiennes’ Moses crumble from a tower to a slum of a man.
The backbone of the play is female: a
spine that is as sensitive as it is strong. Siobhan Cullen stuns as Finnuala
Connell; she is the woman he might listen to. She stands in opposition to
architectural journalist and Moses critic Jane Jacobs (Helen Schlesinger) who is ignored and triggers his demise. Both
women narrate our tale, orbiting the dilemma of Moses: what he built and what
was demolished in his path.
The play informs and it evokes.
Hare’s writing and Hynter’s direction blend to create a striking dramatic
creation; it’s one that exposes where integrity, greed and respect intercept
and corrode each other. Moses’ roads were not means of connection, but means of
segregation. They spider on the map that carpets the stage floor, but instead
look like cracks in breaking concrete. Which they were: they broke up New York's people and its place.
A privilege to watch and a play
born for the Olivier stage.
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