King Hedley II, SSC

I sat in on opening night of this second to last August Wilson play yesterday. This may be a first (that I am informing you of it before it is close to or at closing) for me. I usually like to give the actors a few performances to gel. The play won a Pulitzer and a Tony. Although, I am sceptical that it wasn't just a life time achievement honor (like Paul Newman's Oscar in The Color of Money). I don't even think it's his best play, but, maybe the competition was weak that year. Who can remember? It takes place in 1985 and ran in the Nineties. This play recycles some characters from two previous plays (mostly Seven Guitars). It would help if you remember the circumstances of these characters and the absent Hedley (especially at the end). I'm still a little confused why the characters do what they do at the conclusion. It seems implausible that one of the characters would want to dredge up what gets dredged up. In any event, it is typical Wilson. The relationships and behaviors are exhausting to sit through. Call a wah-ambulance. The best part is always the repartee. The exposition and message is always pedantic. The acting here was half good. Half were good (the male, older actors) and half were flawed (rushed or wandering). There is alot of scenery chewing. That adds to the exhaustion. The best part (as usual) is the cut and pasted biographies in the playbill. Wilson dropped out of school because it wasn't challenging. How can you confirm that? It's either a guess or the author's self serving reconstruction of history. They also say that the conditions the characters were in were caused by Reaganomics and cocaine. I presume they are using a less loaded word than crack cocaine because it seems less embarrassing. Cocaine was available and referenced in plays since the turn of the century. And it is a cheap, rewriting of history to scapegoat Reagan for the environment these characters live in. First off, the Congress sets budgets. Second, these areas were always in this condition and the fact that economic conditions at the time allowed achievers to do better doesn't mean that these areas became worse. They just stayed at the same level of misery (the liberal utopian objective). If you are going to point fingers, go back to the root of the inequailty. What remedial measures did the god Lincoln instigate? The set was good. The crowd was sparse. The show gets you out at 10pm. A ticket costs $10.