In one scene of The Low Road, a character is rambling while another punctuates his speech with individual words as commentary. When he shouts “mellifluous” my eyes roll back into my head. Unfortunately I am not the three-eyed raven in Game of Thrones and I was unable to transport myself to another time and place. This ambitious comedy was written by Bruce Norris who authored the multi-award winning Clybourne Park. Both plays concern themselves with race and injustice, with The Low Road also questioning the validity of capitalism. A bludgeon is the weapon of thematic choice.
Adam Smith, the man who laid down the foundation for classical free market economic theory, narrates this tale set in the early stages of America’s founding. It’s a big, bold new country and history is happening! A young bastard named Jim Trewitt is raised in a brothel, winds up stealing his mother’s money, buys a slave and heads down the low road of capitalism. During his journey, he gets to stand naked, stripped of his clothes. He is shackled to his slave. He is just another bad boy capitalist destroying wealth with lousy investments. He is well played by Chris Perfetti.
Less aggressively highbrow plays might be crucified for slathering on the racial, economic and religious stereotypes that are in full bloom here. I found this pretentious drivel repulsive. The opening time shifting perspective which begins the second act is particularly sophomoric. All of this self-important farcical babble is given a big budget and highly stylized staging by Michael Greif (Dear Evan Hansen, Next to Normal, Grey Gardens, Rent). The costumes by Emily Rebholz are quite good.
If you bother to attend this play, stay until the end so you can experience the wildly ridiculous conclusion which bellows CAPITALISM IS BAD! Maybe then you can explain to me the purpose of the mockingly disabled character who was kicked while in his mother’s pregnant belly and now repeats what other characters say. Oh, and you could also decode why he wore a Hannibal Lector-like face mask for part of the proceedings. If you need your fix of early American history, go uptown and see Hamilton. The Low Road made me regret being in the room where it happened.
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