Both a book and a documentary film on the subject of “The Best of Enemies” preceeded this production. The material is proclaimed to be a true story, though one reviewer has said it “would be unbelievable if offered up as fiction.” This reviewer believes this to be true of it as a play. It always seems mostly a reproduced series of debates with some acted-out backstage revelations.
The situation: Bill, a community organizer for civil rights, impels two enemies to lead a charette. The aim is to improve race relations in a Southern town in 1971. (Is there any doubt what will happen?)
For C. P. Ellis (convincing, explosive Sheffield Chastain), the Ku Klux Klan is his home of which he’s a family head. For Ann Atwater (shrill Stephanie Weeks), the struggle for better conditions and education for blacks is unrelenting. She seems to hate whites as much as C. P. disdains “niggers.”
It seems to take forever for the two enemies to reach the start of rapport. When it comes, though, it’s through a rather sudden realization that what they resent and have been fighting against are the same for themselves and those of their social backgrounds and economic class.
Kevyn Morrow’s Bill seems to be around mainly to incite the action. Thus, he’s never a really fleshed-out character and gives a rather limp explanation of his role toward the end.
Amanda Duffy is more effective as C.P.’s level-headed wife. (Their retarded kid is talked of as important but is never seen.) Still, her visit to Ann seems a stretch, almost as if scenes other than confrontation between the two protagonists need a break. And Mary Ellis gives a relief from Ann’s screeching.
Author Mark St. Germain seems to have aimed at epic theater with his episodic structure. Projected real photos of time and pertinent events in a two-screen background, like an open book, act both as scenery and descriptive legends. Dialogue is superb -- often shocking, always harsh and crucial. Director Richard Hopkins doesn’t spare anything unpleasant despite moving scenes quickly. But why does he have the actors over-miced? They sometimes come over louder than the musical fades.
FST has displayed a penchant in recent years for plays with controversial subjects. “The Best of Enemies” appears more relevant to encouraging discussion at an FST Forum (or, with its ending, a feel-good catharsis in the theater) than to provoking action (as epic would encourage).
