To Kill A Mockingbird!

 Everybody read To Kill A Mockingbird in middle or high school right? It either slammed you over the head with reality or you blew it off because you were a dumb kid. The 1960 novel by Harper Lee won the  Pulitzer and the 1962 movie won Oscars and this play (in Omaha this week) carries on that tradition of greatness.

The touring company of the play, adapted by Aaron Sorkin of West Wing fame, stars Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch, the local tax attorney assigned the job of defending a poor black man from charges he raped and beat a young white woman. Thomas is a force, a great casting choice since the first act Atticus is a rather meek man trying his best and suddenly realizes the folly of 1930s Alabama when defendant Tom Robinson tells the truth, says the one thing he was told not to say and Atticus becomes a warrior for justice.

The narrators are Scout , the feisty daughter, Jem, the frustrated son, and Dill, the friend wiser than he appears. These three pop in and out to explain what is going on with humor and a sense of right and wrong. All 3 actors are tremendous in their roles and the glue that keeps this together.

Calpurnia. the Finch black housekeeper, played by veteran actor Jacqueline Williams, is the moral conscience of this show. She holds her tongue the entire play as Atticus insists on being polite to the racist  dregs of society until she can stand it no more and blurts out a line that really hit home. 

"I believe in being respectful , no matter who you disrespect by doing it" 

And with that line Atticus realized Calpurnia is 100% correct.

The racism in this play is sledgehammer like. The small men who make up the most virulent racists are so  not because of "economic anxiety" but because of generations of lies and abuse. Bob Euell (who fell on his knife) is the racist scumbag who started it all with a charge that Tom Robinson assaulted his young daughter Mayella when to anyone with a working brain knows it was him who did the deed. 

Mobs, the Klan, a railroading prosecutor. the n word with a sneering "er" are all here. It's pretty goddamned uncomfortable to hear white people say the n bomb. (Last week at Fences it was jarring but because it was blacks saying it to each other not quite as). But Sorkin has inserted just enough humor to keep Mockingbird from being a damned dirge.

There are cartoonish characters for sure. The Bob Euell character became a bit too much of a stereotype to me after a while with his enhanced accent and white trash demeanor. 

The original Scout from the 1962 movie, Oscar nominated Mary Badham, plays the nasty old bag Mrs DuBose. The character is completely unnecessary but I get while she was cast as a sort of tribute to not only the past but to her. Yeah its a complete novelty but I get it.

The judge played by Richard Poe, is a joy as a guy fed up with stupidity and his exchange with the prosecutor objecting to Tom's swearing in is all of us. Jeff Still as Link Deas , a local man who employs black folk and seems to be on the right side of history has a scene that is all of us also. 1930s Alabama folk suck. 

Hey, with the rise of white nationalism disguised as Christian nationalism making a comeback, this book, movie and play is still completely relevant to today and probably always will be. That makes me sad.

Go see it. You'll be happy you did and if you were a dumb kid when you were assigned this book back in school, you'll finally see what you missed.