November: Political incompetence showcased in a fine production

“Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Lord Acton 1887

In playwright David Mamet’s view, as presented in his 2008 political satire November, Lord Acton’s dictum definitely still applies.

A week before election time, the polls show that current U.S. president Charles Smith is going to be a one-term failure. In a desperate attempt to hang on for a second term, he tries every legitimate and illegitimate way he can find to squeeze funds for a last-minute advertising campaign to boost his ratings.

In the SevenThirty Productions presentation of November, slickly directed by John P. Kelly, Todd Duckworth is simply terrific as the sinking president. Maintaining a knife-edge balance between humour and pathos, he is always believable, despite the excesses that Mamet has injected into his character.

Duckworth is a huge success as a presidential failure. He is ably supported by Steve Martin as his restrained chief of staff and Chantale Plante as his speechwriter — the character closest to being motivated by morality and justice, until she tries to blackmail the president into marrying her to her same-sex partner on national television.

Enhanced by David Magladry’s Oval Office set and lighting, this production of November is a highly entertaining version of Mamet’s cynical attack on political incompetence.

November continues at the Gladstone to December 8