Ronald Keaton portrays Sir Winston Churchill in one-man show at New World Stages (photo by Jason Epperson)
New World Stages
340 West 50th St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves.
Wednesday – Monday through September 13, $67
churchilltheplay.com
newworldstages.com
In The Audience, now on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, Helen Mirren transforms into Queen Elizabeth II, making the crowd gasp as she seems to become Her Royal Highness right before our eyes. In Ronald Keaton’s one-man show, SoloChicago’s production of Churchill at New World Stages, Keaton never quite fully embodies the larger-than-life political figure — who is played in The Audience by Dakin Matthews — and the audience never forgets it is seeing a staged performance, but he still does hit all the right notes as he relates the life of one of the most important figures of the twentieth century. But whereas the text of The Audience is complete fiction, imagined by writer Peter Morgan, in Churchill Keaton, who both adapted and stars in the play, uses the writings and speeches of Sir Winston to give a clear and concise history of the man and his influence on world politics, focusing on the two world wars while including plenty of classic Churchill quips. It’s 1946, and Churchill has arrived in the United States to meet with President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Speaking directly to the audience, Churchill shares the details of critical moments in his life, beginning with his premature birth on November 30, 1874, the son of a British duke and an American woman: “So I am myself a kind of English-speaking union,” he says. “I came miraculously into the world with a certain amount of impatience and a good deal of energy.” Churchill discusses his schooling, his embarrassing lisp and stutter, his relationship with his loving mother and stiff-upper-lipped father (“You want to know how many conversations I had with my father over a lifetime? Maybe five.”), his marriage to Clementine Hozier (“In our first meeting at a social gathering, I took note of her personal grace and beauty. The second meeting convinced me that this was a woman of great character and intelligence, and I fell almost instantly.”), and his joining the military, which changed the course of his future, as he became a war hero, a bestselling author, and a savvy politician with an unrivaled talent for witty repartee and sharp comebacks. (“A female acquaintance of mine, one of those plutocrats who claimed to love the working man —indeed, they love to see him work — said to me, ‘Mr. Churchill, I care for neither your politics nor your mustache.’ I said, ‘Don’t distress yourself, dear lady, you’re not very likely to come in contact with either.’”)
“I must be very tough or very lucky. Or both,” Churchill (Ronald Keaton) declares in biographical play (photo by Jason Epperson)
The second act begins as England enters WWII on September 1, 1939, with Churchill becoming first lord of the admiralty (“‘Sir! You’re scuttling the traditions of the Royal Navy!’ ‘Admiral, have you ever considered what the traditions of the Royal Navy really are? I can tell you in three words: rum, sodomy, and the lash!’”) and, on May 10, 1940, prime minister for the first time. (“But at last, I had been given complete authority over the whole scene. I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been preparation for this hour, this trial.”) Churchill speaks humbly yet proudly of his own vast accomplishments (“I’ve derived continued benefit from criticism in my life and never known any time when I was short of it.”) and fondly of his relationship with FDR. (“Meeting President Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne. And knowing him was like drinking it. He was the best friend England ever had.”) Director Kurt Johns has Keaton wander rather randomly across Jason Epperson’s somewhat cramped set, which includes an easel where the British Bulldog paints, two chairs, a desk, and a window on which Paul Deziel projects Churchill family photographs, the Union Jack, Churchill canvases, and other images. I attended the show with a Churchill aficionado, someone so enamored with the man that his daughter was even born on Winnie’s birthday, and he gave the show high marks for its historical accuracy and ability to encapsulate Churchill’s life and career in less than two hours (with intermission). I can’t be quite so generous with the staging itself, but Churchill, part of Churchill 2015, a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the eminent statesman’s death, is still a heartfelt look at an inspiring figure who changed the course of history. (On June 19, Keaton will be at the 92nd St. Y for the special talk “Behind the Scenes of Off-Broadway’s Churchill” with Tricia McDermott.)