Clarence Darrow, Old Vic - theatre review: Kevin Spacey's Old Vic swansong

Kevin Spacey's winning performance is the reason to see this aging play, even if his turn feels a little like House of Cards' Frank Underwood with a social conscience
Thundering about: Kevin Spacey at lawyer Clarence Darrow
Fiona Mountford9 March 2015

Kevin Spacey is nearing the end of his illustrious tenure at the helm of the Old Vic and this revival of David W. Rintels’s one-man show about the crusading US civil and labour rights lawyer Clarence Darrow is the last chance we’ll get to see this charismatic performer on stage in Waterloo.

The play, 41 years old, is showing its age, as the script rattles in unsophisticated fashion through Darrow’s greatest courtroom hits.

Rintels takes it at such a lick that it’s hard to get much emotional or psychological purchase on the man, but I doubt that is what anyone inside or queuing optimistically outside for a returned ticket came for. We’re here to see Spacey up close and 90 minutes of Spacey up close is what we get.

He thunders about like Atticus Finch in Thea Sharrock’s slightly over-stagey production, interacting with the audience as he whirls through Darrow’s career, successfully defending more than 100 men against the death penalty.

Given that Spacey excels at complex, Machiavellian characters, this liberal crusader isn’t the most natural fit; there’s a slightly disconcerting sense that we’re seeing House of Cards’ Frank Underwood develop a social conscience.

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Nonetheless, Darrow’s highlights are Spacey’s, in particular, the infamous Scopes Monkey trial against Tennessee and its law making it illegal to teach evolution in schools. Biblical fundamentalists are no match for Darrow’s sharp wit and Spacey thrills to the cause.

Until April 11 (0844 871 7628, oldvictheatre.com)

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