David Mamet's "Race' by Philadelphia Theatre Company (2nd review)

If you've spent much of your life working in law firms, as I have, David Mamet's Race may demand more suspension of disbelief than you can muster.

Much of the shenanigans proffered up by the three lawyers on stage could have been avoided had the clerk of court followed proper legal procedures and waited for an Entry of Appearance motion. Instead we are to believe that Susan, the young black female associate for a three-lawyer firm, simply called up the clerk of court and asked for everything the district attorney had on the hapless Charles (a rich white man accused of raping his black mistress) after he came to the office seeking representation.

What the clerk of court would be doing with the DA's files is beyond me. But this action, we are told, has led the clerk to designate Susan's firm as the attorneys of record for the defendant.

Too white, too rich

This event provokes much anguished discourse between the partners— a white man named Jake and a black man named Henry— who had previously wavered about accepting Charles as a client. Alas, Charles is rich and white, and these two lawyers aren't sure they can adequately represent him (which has to be a first in the annals of American law).

Since Mamet is a lawyer's son and brother to one of the principal writers on "Law and Order," he can't claim ignorance of the law here— and since ignorance of the law is no excuse anyway, the audience is forced to think that the playwright had an ulterior motive for presenting this far-fetched plot line.

You see, Race is not a play about lawyers; it's a drama about blacks and whites in America.

Stoking racial fires

Under the high-tech minimal lights dangling atop the conference room table of a glossy modern law firm set laid out by Kevin Rigdon, the three lawyers banter about race in America. The audience is showered with a dazzling display of sparse one-liners uttered in precise "Mamet-speak" cadence as the two partners duke out their color differences while they should be concocting a plausible defense strategy for Charles.

The plot is as simple as the title. Whatever the principals may say, when it is all said and done, the whites don't understand blacks, and consequently the blacks inherently hate whites. This play's only contribution to interracial dialogue is to stoke the fires of racism.

Mamet's lines work best when actors yell at each other. In a Mamet play, what you hear is all you can see about a character. Both Jordan Lage as Jake and Ray Anthony as Henry present themselves (albeit brilliantly) as if they were second-year law students and not successful legal eagles who've operated their own law firm together for 20 years.

"You'll never understand what it's like for a black man," Henry shouts at Jake— and Jake, who up to this point has a wise crack for everything, simply concedes. Makes you wonder how these two ever got together and stayed partners.

Like a crippled giraffe

For comic relief, John Preston, who plays the guilt-ridden Charles, stumbles in and out of scenes with all the grace of a crippled giraffe on an ice rink.

Lurking in the background is the Ivy League affirmative action newly appointed associate, Susan. As portrayed by Nicole Lewis, Susan certainly looks and dresses the part. Yet her seemingly more complex character has a hard time being heard because she doesn't yell as much. Her monotone delivery contradicts Susan's intelligence and feelings of entitlement, and consequently I had a hard time accepting the pivotal role she assumes at the play's conclusion.

As adroitly directed by Scott Zigler, this production will induce much discussion about race and relevancy in society. But I doubt it will open up any new social insights, let alone teach us any secrets behind the inner workings of a law firm.♦


To read another review by Dan Rottenberg, click here.
To read another review by Jim Rutter, click here.
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