Friday, March 6, 2020 marked an evening I will long remember. It was the world premiere opening night of Joe DiPietro’s “Conscience.” And it was almost the greatest show you never had a chance to see. Only one week later, the entire NJ/NY Metro area was shut down by COVID-19, shuttering theatres everywhere.
You have a chance to see this now, virtually, for a limited time only! This show goes back in history to the bloody battle of wills between Margaret Chase Smith (Harriet Harris) and Joseph McCarthy (Lee Sellars) over Smith’s fifteen-minute speech known as the “Declaration of Conscience.” This indomitable woman is famous for saying “I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the four horsemen of calumny–fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear,” even as she wanted her Republican Party to succeed. If you hear a spinning sound in the distance, it may be Smith rolling over in her grave.
Harris breathes brilliant life into a character that presaged the women in Congress today. Smith had greatness thrust upon her when her husband Clyde Smith, representing Maine in the House of Representatives, succumbed to complications from a heart attack in 1940. In a statement written before his death, he said he knew of no one better suited to carry on his work. When Smith meets McCarthy, it feels more like a sword-and-sandals epic than a government conversation.
Sellars’ McCarthy is as unctuous as a used-car salesman and as self-interested as you might expect. He is so convinced of his rectitude, nothing can convince him otherwise. Sellars’ voice is a finely-tuned instrument, and his performance in person, like Harris’, was one for the ages. When you hear them on Zoom, enjoy looking at their expressions, but with half-closed eyes you can imagine yourself in the moments where they clash.
Mark Junek as Smith’s aide, and lifelong friend and confidante, William Lewis, Jr. does his best to keep his boss apprised of what is going on in the undercurrents as well as keep her aware of surface matters. Jean Kerr as McCarthy’s assistant and, later, wife, Cathryn Wake strikes a tightrope balance of a woman of her time. In order to succeed, she knows the currency and there is a difference between success and love. These are all finely nuanced performances, worthy of your time, so get those tickets NOW and then return to this review.
In March, David Saint directed this dazzling ensemble with a very sere set by James Youmans and cool lighting by Joe Saint that made the play seem almost dream-like, like a vision of a collective consciousness. Brian Hemesath’s costumes and Charles G. Lapointe’s wig and hair design completed the picture. We saw the players in color but the effect has me thinking of it in black and white, as all pictures were at that time. The chiaroscuro world in which McCarthy chose to work, limned for a modern telling of history.
For days after I first saw the play, and seeing it again on Zoom several months later, I was and am still struck by playwright DiPietro’s gift for language and how writing, directing and acting all come together, regardless of how we see it to make indelible impressions on the heart.
Get your tickets now at https://georgestreetplayhouse.org/shows/show/conscience-virtual-reading/ and while you’re there, get tickets for an adaption of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” as you have never seen it before! Thank you, George Street Playhouse, for the gift of the life of the mind! See you soon! "Conscience" runs through 11:59 p.m. on November 15.