Sunday, June 28, 2020

187. THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY. From my (unpublished) ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW YORK STAGE, 1970-1975


Kate Reid, Lenny Baker, Allen Carlsen.
THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY [Comedy-Drama/Irish/Law/Politics] A: Brian Friel; D: William Woodman; S: David Jenkins; C: Alicia Finkel; L: F. Mitchell Dana; P: Konrad Matthaei and Hale Matthews b/a/w Goodman Theatre Center; T: Alvin Theatre; 2/17/75-2/24/75 (9)

Allen Carlsen, Lenny Baker, Kate Reid.
In the first quarter of an hour of this Irish import, the audience learns that three Catholic civil rights marchers in Londenderry, caught in the melee of Army and police attempts to break up a 1970 march with rubber bullets and tear gas, hide out in an empty building, learn that they have access to the Lord Mayor’s parlor, are discovered by the British troops who are under the impression that the building is crawling with terrorists, leave the building with hands over their heads, and are summarily shot down in cold blood.

The remainder of the play concerns an investigation into the tragic incident by the British Court of Inquiry. The ironic contrast between what the three innocent “terrorists” were really doing in the Lord Mayor’s room and the biased accounts elicited during the whitewashing court procedure is presented by intercutting scenes of the actual events into the inquiry.

Playwright Brian Friel’s three chief characters, two contrasted young men (Lenny Baker and Allan Carlson) and a poor, middle-aged woman, the mother of 11 (Kate Reid), are shown as earnest, amusing, harmless, and entirely likable, totally at odds with the official picture drawn by the court. During their hours holed up in the grandiose office they enjoy themselves by dressing up in his robes, drinking his booze, examining his papers, and using his phone.

Kate Reid, Lenny Baker.
Reminiscent of certain real-life tragedies of those years—and just as relevant today—The Freedom of the City struck a responsive chord with Douglas Watt, who termed it “a disturbing and lovely play filled with compassion and sudden insights.” Richard Watts could not believe anyone could fail to be impressed by its “dramatic power, its vivid writing, and its occasional flashes of humor.”

Others, however, such as Clive Barnes, John Simon, Edith Oliver, and Martin Gottfried had opinions that helped it to an early grave. These critics thought it poorly constructed, slow moving, predictable, heavy-handed in its irony, and its events implausible, if not impossible. The saving grace for some was the excellence of Friel’s character depictions, for others it was the polished performances, particularly Kate Reid’s. Gottfried, who called the play a “perfectly well done production of a perfectly boring play,” found no good reason to stick around, and left at intermission, an admission that would have gotten later critics into boiling water.

Among the better-known players in this effort were Henderson Forsythe, Joe Ponazecki, J. Kenneth Campbell, and William Bogert.