I caught David Mamet’s RACE recently as I was instantly drawn to seeing James Spader’s name as a cast member.  I loved him on Boston Legal, so after a little research, I learned that he basically takes a darker version of Allan Shore (Boston Legal) character to this rather controversial theatrical drama.  That was all the insight I needed!  So I recruited a friend and hit the show. 

James Spader was exactly as I expected…Incredible and so natural on stage.  I had low expectations for David Alan Grier, but he too was very impressive — this really surprised me to be honest.  I thought Kerry Washington was OK and didn’t really care much for Richard Thomas.  With all that said, the play was wonderful and totally worth the price of admission. 

RACE in itself can at times be a tricky subject to discuss openly.  Stating that this piece confronts the gray areas of racism would be an absolute understatement.  Rest assured, it does not tip-toe around any racial sensitivities.  So be prepared to be taken out of your safe zone.  In fact, more then once I found myself thinking:  ”That is so messed up he said that…I can’t believe it made me chuckle”.  Granted, the humor was by design, but the underlying  message is such a powerful one that it stuck with me for days afterwards.  Go watch it!  You’ll see what I mean.   

I dug up a the following review for the show, which I thought was pretty fitting:

By John Simon of Bloomberg:

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) — David Mamet’s “Race,” which opened last night on Broadway, takes place in a law office where a white man, accused of raping a black woman, seeks legal representation.

Mamet, who also directs, has assembled four talented actors — James Spader, David Alan Grier, Kerry Washington, Richard Thomas — and a top-notch design team. We get a high-voltage melodrama that is unafraid to raise painful questions while dispensing prickly ideas and provocative dialogue amid steady suspense.

Just as in “Oleanna,” Mamet latches on to a controversial issue, in this case the problem of race as it has affected American politics, jurisprudence, sexual relations and life in general. He has boldly asserted that our 230-year national experience has been a dialogue about race and that the theme of his new play is “race and the lies we tell each other on the subject.”

Charles Strickland (Thomas), a socially prominent white married billionaire, is accused of having raped a young black woman in a hotel room. She has gone to court, and he has come to a law firm consisting of white Jack Lawson (Spader), black Henry Brown (Grier) as well as their recent hire (Washington), a young black lawyer, Susan, who is given no last name (could that be some form of discrimination, too?).

Tricky Plot

Charles has, under murky circumstances, parted company with his Jewish lawyer, presumably so as to be represented by a mixed-race firm which might prove to his advantage in the eyes of a jury. He insists on his innocence and wants justice, which he calls truth, to be based on the facts of the case.

But, as cynical Jack informs him, “There are no ‘facts of the case.’ There are two fictions, which the opposing teams seek to impress upon the jury.” Also, “Neither side wants the truth. Each wants to prevail. Does society ‘deserve’ the truth?”

It is a tricky plot, revolving initially around whether the firm can take on a case where, even should they win and reveal the black plaintiff as, at best, a vindictive consensual sex partner, at worst a whore, end up being viewed as having used white power and prestige to destroy a black woman — ergo, as racists.

There is intrigue within intrigue, showing how personal prejudice and individual missteps govern the course of things, and how, where some blacks are concerned, no white can do things right, and may thus elicit retaliation in punitive reverse racism.

Wry Jokes

Mamet adroitly mixes comic darts with tragic arrows, but my telling you any more plot would deprive you of the element of surprise, mandatory, he says, for a legal team to spring on the jury, and no less mandatory, for a critic to allow an author to spring on the public.

I can tell you, however, that the play is full of wry jokes, epigrammatic jolts, and acrid, even cheeky provocations, which, depending on the extent of your guilt feelings, can be taken as deserved flagellation or perfervid overstatement.

All four actors perform compellingly; Santo Loquasto’s decor, Tom Broecker’s costuming, and Brian MacDevitt’s lighting could not be better. You can relish “Race” quite independently of whether you consider it bravura or bravado.

Cool trailer for the show followed by a few photos I snagged off the web: