Last night I
attended the world premiere of Clearing Bombs, written by Eric Samuelsen
at Plan-B Theatre in SLC. The basis of the play revolves around two economic
theories: Keynesian vs. Hayekian economics. These arguments, embodied by their
proponents Keynes and Hayek, are polar opposite ideas. The former argues for
government intervention (think of FDR’s New Deal) in order to help economies
recover, while the latter would argue a totalitarian laissez-faire (think of
Hoover after the Great Depression) for an eventual recovery. Using a
lower-class third-man, these two economists argue their ideas in order to
convince him of the correct way to proceed when WWII eventually ends. The play
argues that economics both recovered the USA from the Great Depression, but that
misunderstood, created the rise of Hitler. In this way, the play’s use of two
economists makes their theories relevant to us today as we also look at the recovery from the Great Recession.
The performance
itself was incredibly engaging, especially the dialogue. However, having had
time to consider some of the details of the play, there are three parts which I
found a little disconcerting. First, at the end of the play, Keynes openly
confesses his homosexual stint to Hayek. It felt completely out of place,
mainly because the argument lasts for maybe two minutes. It seemed more of a
space created to profess an openness towards an issue contemporary to our time.
Secondly, Keynes mentions his regards to Eccles, a prominent banker from Utah
(and Mormon). That small dialogue (maybe less than a minute) felt like it was
put there because the play is performed in Salt Lake City. However, it again
felt out of place, as if it wouldn’t be something Keynes or Hayek would
mention, but rather the playwright. Thirdly, Keynes’s argument seemed to
revolve around the same central point throughout the play: feelings towards the
poor and destitute which moves him to immediate action. This argument surfaced
many times, and it felt overused. However, besides these three aspects, the
rest of the dialogue was very tight, and very moving, especially as the two
economists sought ways to explain their theories to a commoner.
Photo from Plan-B Facebook Web Site
The setting was
very minimalistic, something I enjoyed, since I felt the dialogue really held
the play together well. I feel that if the setting had been more elaborate, the
play would have lost some of the great actions by the incredible actors who
performed their economist's arguments: Mr. Bowles (played by Kirt Bateman), John Maynard Keynes (Mark Fossen)
and Friedrich Hayek (Jay Perry). Each had incredible personas on stage, since
each character was able to hold their ground and argument skiilfully. Throughout the
play, sporadic intervals introduced plane noises, since the plot includes the
three men on top of the roof of King’s College Chapel in Cambridge. This
addition planted the play within the historical context of WWII and gave an
immediate sense to the relevance of the dialogue on stage.
This is
definitely a play worth seeing while it’s open, especially for its relevance to how we proceed as a society currently. As talk of socialism/capitalism/communism remains a public discourse even today, this show will help decipher some of the crucial arguments found under capitalism. Also, Eric did an excellent job of leaving the audience to side with one of the two economists. I appreciated that he did not didactically steer us into one direction.
The play runs from Feb. 20-Mar. 2 at the Rose
Wagner Studio Theatre in SLC, UT. Tickets are on sale at arttix.org.
(Students receive a discounted ticket. I paid $12 with tax) #seasonoferic
Photo from Salt Lake Tribune
