Farragut North is a play created in anticipation of the US presidential election in 2008. The play is based on the Howard Dean’s primary campaign in 2004. I had the chance to see the Farragut North show last year when it was still performed in New York before it was finally transferred to Geffen Playhouse. To me, the play wasn’t hilarious, but it wasn’t bad either.
The leading role, a 25 year old veteran called Stephen Bellamy, was played by Chris Pine. He did the job of bringing the Bellamy’s character into life very well. He had made so many good emotions. His anger was frightening, his clumsiness made good laughs, and his vulnerability thrust everyone’s heart in the theater. He was definitely the center of the play.
The other leading role, Paul Zara, was played by Chris Noth as Pine’s rival. He played his role quite well even though still could not compete with what Pine did. His appearance was not really convincing as a presidential candidate. Based on how they played these two characters, I would definitely vote for Bellamy in the election.
The execution of the play was minimalist with huge emptiness on the stage set. While the empty spaces on the stage allowed me to concentrate more on the actors and their movements, I found that the world in the story was failed to be built. It was difficult to imagine the world the characters lived in with only little props on the stage.
This was followed with the lack of the sound in the play. It was mostly quiet with only dialogues from the actors to hear. No music, no sound of clanking dishes. I was hoping that they could come up with some audio to balance the emptiness of the stage.
The beginning of the play also started with lack of energy if I may say, as the result of the empty background.
However, the good thing was that the actors could gather more and more energy once they could adjust themselves with the void around them. Reaching to the middle of the play, the play already came to life with the actors feeling comfortable already on the stage.
It did not always bring the negatives though. In the scene where Bellamy had a one way conversation in the phone with his opposition utilized the emptiness very well. It helped to raise the private sense of the monolog and Pine did it very well without rushing the whole thing.
Overall, I recommend people to see this play. The theme of this play is very relevant to present economy and politic. The characters are contradictive yet intriguing at the same time. The political game presented can brings you to contemplate on today’s political condition. This play is successfully captured the today’s politics into a beautiful stage performance.