'Straight Line Crazy,' a new play about the career of Robert Moses now running at London's appropriately named Bridge Theatre, is very talky and very static. heybonanos writes
Ralph Fiennes as Robert Moses. Photo: Manuel Harlan Can you make ripping drama out of urban planning? In theory, sure. The potential for finding narrative power in this square subject lies in adjusting focus from concrete and steel to people and communities, looking for the beneficiaries and victims.
Ralph Fiennes is impressive to watch as he channels some of the brawn and vocal gravel of the man. It’s a two-act play, the second taking place about three decades after the first, and the intermission hair-and-makeup modifications are minimal at most. Fiennes mostly just adjusts his stance to read older and heavier, and that suffices to age him.
Let’s set aside that this rather balanced character portrait is an absurd characterization. Robert Moses, a former Yale debate champion, was known for his ferocity and intransigence in the face of a challenge. If you so much as tried to declaim to the real man about why some aspect of his plans was flawed, he would immediately outflank every angle of your argument , and then perhaps eject you from the building and ruin your career. He stormed out of meetings when someone disagreed with him.
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