CORONADO, California—-It’s hard to believe that in 2010 we are still fighting the Civil War. Yup. Both Virginia and Mississippi recently announced new proclamations by their Governors designating April as Confederate Heritage Month without so much as a mention of the cause of the Civil War, which by all accounts was the issue of slavery or to be more concise, the right of one person or persons to own another person or other persons.
For whatever bogus reasons, not the least is a mention of the formation of The Tea Party Movement akin to the reason for the outbreak of the Civil War (the government isn’t paying attention to us), they have chosen to disregard the historical facts.
History is a complicated subject and doesn’t travel in a straight trajectory and often the facts get lost in the rhetoric. There are competing circumstances and partisan arguments, political factions and opinions, ignorance, money and land, fear of the unknown particularly if a way of life is about to be or has been changed that can alter the facts, both real or imagined.
For historians, the good news is that the tracks that have been left behind like official papers; documents, speeches, personal diaries and oral histories that validate actual accounts are still available. The bad news is that if enough tweaking of the facts continues over the years and a total disregard for the truth shouts louder than the truth, history is reinvented and that becomes the new truth.
It’s a little more complicated these days to lie about the facts with instant replay and more sophisticated means of recording history, but that doesn’t stop the eager beavers from .preaching their own fiction by yelling louder than the truth seekers. Ergo, slavery, well yes it happened but, “And the primary cause of the war was not slavery, although slavery was interwoven into the cause …”
It’s uncanny that the rhetoric screaming from the 24-hour news cycle today echoes almost the same vocabulary as in 1858 about states rights and strict interpretation of the constitution.
Hidden beneath all that chatter, might there be the race card rearing its ugly head once again? A little more than two hundred years after the birth of Abraham Lincoln, this country has an African American president. One hundred years after the famous debates, the Civil Rights Movement outlawed racial discrimination. Finally in 1964 The Civil Rights Act banned all discrimination based on race, color or religion. And still the debate rages on.
But back in 1858, the year of the Lincoln/Douglas debates, the issues of states rights and the constitution particularly with regard to the subject of slavery were on the table in real time. Nothing was camouflaged. The senate seat of Illinois was at stake in these debates and Lincoln and Douglas went after it full speed ahead.
Three years after the debates Abraham Lincoln (who lost the senate seat to Douglas) was president and the country was at war. To get a glimpse of what a true oratory contest is all about, take yourself to Lamb’s Players Theatre in Coronado to witness a really fine debate, using the actual (whittled down) documents, between Abraham Lincoln (David Cochran Heath) and Stephen A. Douglas (Robert Smyth) in Norman Corwin’s 1958 play, The Rivalry.
In seven debates across the state of Illinois Lincoln and Douglas argued their different points of view about slavery; Douglas the Democrat stood for states rights to decide whether or not to keep slaves while Lincoln the Republican argued “that all men are created equal” and that meant black and other minorities and therefore slavery goes against the very grain of what our forefathers signed on to when penning the Declaration of Independence.
While strikingly different in appearance and conviction, Douglas was short and stubby; Lincoln tall and lanky, both were lawyers and both were passionate about their views. Each had a mutual respect for the other and exerted civility at all times.
Douglas supported the Kansas Nebraska Act and the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision while Lincoln opposed both. Therein was the schism. Douglas wanted the states to define whether or not they would be free or slave states especially in the westward expansion while Lincoln made a strong argument against the states rights, “A house divided against itself…”
Unfortunately for Douglas the cards were stacked against him and instead of coming off as a bright legislator, passionate in his convictions and an excellent debater he comes off as a pompous racist. As finely as Smyth’s Douglas espouses his points of view, and they were convincing, Corwin’s play doesn’t allow for much sympathy toward the Douglas character.
For those betting on Lincoln, (and we all know the history) most seem to forget while he was opposed to slavery he struggled with the issue throughout his legislative career even voting for the exclusivity of white suffrage (catering to the racist sentiment) of the North and in Illinois. Cochran’s Lincoln is as convincing as were his views on equality for all.
Refereeing between debates and narrating before and after, Corwin puts Douglas’ wife Adele (Colleen Kollar Smith) into the mix by adding commentary and some much needed female reasoning, which was advantageous when her husband got a little hot headed and or stuffy and difficult to deal with.
Corwin’s taking fictional liberties makes the somewhat long and often sameness of the give and take debates more palatable with the addition of the wisdom, foresight and humor of Douglas’ wife Adele.
Lamb’s production, with the two master performers Smyth and Cochran Heath, under the astute direction of Deborah Gilmour Smyth is quite absorbing especially if you drink this type of history lesson. Robert Smyth as Douglas is smug, super indignant, playing to the audience convincing that he is right with all his might. He paces, nips a bit, quips a bit but stings hard in his fight to be right arguments.
David Cochran Heath’s Lincoln is more deliberate and less fire and brimstone but just as fervent nonetheless. Standing on Michael McKeon’s (set and projections designer) raised planked platform making his points, he looks larger than life as he strides back and fourth, using excellent body language to get his ideas across. And when he puts on his stovepipe hat (Jeanne Reith) he casts a giant shadow over the audience (Nathan Peirson, lighting).
Colleen Kollar Smith is lovely, gentle and persuasive as Adele Douglas. Dressed in Reith’s beautiful period dresses she is the essence of Southern dignity and charm. With the addition of her character, we are able to see some of the behind the scenes personalities and struggles of both men when they are not opposing each other in the public arena. Without her character, Corwin’s two-act play would be somewhat less intriguing.
Ms. Smith also created the original background music indicative of the times with Diana Elledge on cello. I think I also heard a few drums and piccolo somewhere in the wings.
For those wanting a little piece of history while not wanting to read through volumes of debates, The Rivalry is a good place to begin.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: April 6-May 23 2010
Organization: Lamb’s Players Theatre
Phone: 619-437-6000
Production Type: Drama
Where: 1142 Orange Ave, Coronado, Ca
Ticket Prices: $26-58.00
Web: Lamb’sPlayers.org
Venue: Lamb’s Players Theatre Coronado
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Theatre critic Carol Davis is based in San Diego