Playwright, author, activist and politician Gore Vidal died on Wednesday. A few months ago I had the thrill of seeing his 1960 play The Best Man on Broadway, where it continues to play in a star-studded revival. And while Vidal may have been an outspoken left-wing activist, I appreciated his brutal portrayal of politics and honesty with the audience about the consequence of making public service a zero-sum game.
Gore Vidal and I shared differing political beliefs. I viewed him as a leftist, arrogant, faux-intellectual. Even though we never met, I’m sure Mr. Vidal would have had choice words for me as well. And while I disagreed with his politics, I respect the passion in which he communicated his thoughts and beliefs.
In my April review of The Best Man I praised the prophetic nature in which Vidal foreshadowed the future of American politics. The play can be hard to swallow because it doesn’t feel like we’re watching theatre, rather instead an episode of Meet the Press. Good theatre shouldn’t just entertain, it should move us. Seeing The Best Man accomplishes that, and makes us reckon the ongoing consequences currently endured by the tone of our politics.
Our nation is at a point where politics, and politicians, are held in such low regard that the American public is desensitized to the ongoing divineness. Indeed Gore Vidal once said, “Every four years the naive half who vote are encouraged to believe that if we can elect a really nice man or woman President everything will be all right. But it won’t be.” I doubt any voter truly believes that either President Obama or Governor Romney can really solve the malaise that has fallen over our capital.
And while Vidal may have hated the tone of American politics, he was fond to quip, “There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.” So this weekend, in a tribute to him, go see The Best Man on Broadway or watch the 1964 movie version with Henry Fonda. But while doing so remember, that while we can’t change a play/movie, we can change the present. Perhaps that is Vidal’s lasting legacy.
The Best Man will close on September 9, 2012. Tickets and further information maybe found by visiting: http://thebestmanonbroadway.com/
To learn more about Gore Vidal, please visit: http://www.gorevidalnow.com/
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