David and GoliathIn Washington in 1972, a break-in was intercepted at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel. The ‘thieves’ were not your average 'breakers & enterers' and had links to the secret services and before long a connection had been made between the thieves and the President’s staff and ultimately the President himself. The investigation leading up to Nixon’s resignation to avoid impeachment is still one of the greatest scandals in modern political history and his pardon by the succeeding president, Gerald Ford, only increased the public outrage. Peter Morgan has written a nice line in screenplays (The Queen, The Last King of Scotland, even Henry VIII) about powerful people cultivating a calculatedly benign public image. A film of Frost/Nixon, his first play and another of these scenarios - with the famous rendered infamous - is on the way too.
Although Nixon's involvement with the 'Watergate' scandal is generally well known now, partly due to the famous David Frost interview, no preparation is required to enjoy the play. The background is jointly sketched in by pro and anti Nixon narrators (from opposing sides of the stage) who eventually become part of the action but occasionally step out of it, along the lines of a classic American 'memory play', to address the audience with opposing memories about the action as it unfolds. The loyalist is his military chief of staff, Jack Brennan (Neil Pigot) and, reminding us that Nixon was also responsible for the disastrous handling of the war in Vietnam and beyond, the anti Nixon-ite, Jim Reston Jnr (Teague Rook) also helps establish the hostility felt toward Nixon.
The first act is taken up with the preparations by the apparently light-weight talk-show host David Frost (John Adam) with the isolated and depressed Nixon (Marshall Napier). For Frost it seems just another project he takes on because he likes proving himself. For Nixon the interview appeals as a chance to exonerate himself without the threat a more savvy political journalist might bring. That he does for an unprecedented fee, negotiated by his agent (Bruce Myles) adds greed to his already tarnished character. Morgan’s Nixon is multi-suggestive created out the facts and fantasies that surround the man. So is the portrait of Frost. Frost is a charming but tireless self-promoter and always hustling money and people for the Nixon interview and his many other projects. That he happens to meet Caroline Cushing (Kat Stewart), the ex-wife of a millionaire, on the flight to Los Angeles is too good an opportunity for this lothario to pass up and they are practically in a relationship before the plane lands.
Nixon is a shrewd politician and uses his presence to easily disarm opponents with his simple, almost naive behaviour. At the same time Morgan still gives him a whiff of the two-faced and underhand methods that are part of his myth. No sooner has he agreed to the interview than he jokes to Brennan about placing Frost under surveillance. When he later greets Frost prior to an interview taping he inquires if he had fornicated the night before. An attempt at 'blokey' familiarity from someone who by his own admission is inept in social situations? The seemingly tactless remark to playboy Frost however makes you suspicious that Nixon still resorts to covert surveillance and has gathered files on every aspect of his ‘opponent’ including his very new girlfriend.
The second act concentrates on the interviews and, despite the entire world knowing the outcome, they are compelling to watch as recreated here. The stage has been divided vertically in half. Across the top is a screen that has been projecting fairly superfluous images in the first act (plates and cutlery in a scene set in a restaurant, for example, or palm trees for Nixon’s West coast home). As the interviews are taped the screen relays the action taking place below and presents them as they would appear on television. Initially Nixon swamps Frost in a smokescreen of rambling anecdotes, Frost's obvious boredom and confusion and Nixon’s bland but controlling triumph are writ large on the screen above. However, when Frost deals the revelation about the Nixon’s supposed knowledge of the Watergate break in, every micro-spec of Nixon’s discomfort is displayed as he squirms before the cameras.
As Nixon Napier does not give a specific impression (like Nixon’s contemporary and still best antagonist Rich Little). Physically Napier looks more like an elderly Sam Neil but instead he suggests the voice, look, and importantly, the social awkwardness masking equal measures of vulnerability and deviousness. Although Morgan includes Nixon’s apology he has written a play about Nixon acknowledging his flaws and failings. They are presented in a way that gives him a an almost classical tragic dimension in the way Morgan includes a phone call from Nixon to Frost on the eve of the final session where Nixon half reveals the chinks in his armour (Nixon as the frightened Richard and Frost as the glamorous and fearless Richmond, the night before the battle of Bosworth?). When watching Napier televised onto the screen, however, he is magnetic as the shifty and shifting gestures take over. Earlier Nixon confides to Frost that he dreaded appearing on television, that he sweated and his never clean-shaven enough complexion made him appear untrustworthy. Although Napier can't sweat or grow and five o'clock shadow on command he makes Nixon's discomfort palpable. Adam brings out the lucky streak that most people thought Frost possessed. He is calm and immaculately dressed at every appearance while his scruffy production team crumble and crumple with the mounting stress. The character of Caroline never quite makes an enduring impression on the play or its proceedings despite Kat Stewart fleshing out an enigmatic character down to a sophisticated Euro-American accent. Roger Hodgman’s production features a simple but extravagant set with the huge television screen and busy revolve but maintains a focus on the way the famous story is recreated. Quite rightly that television screen - that made Frost famous and Nixon notorious in one fell swoop - is omnipresent. As a final compliment Paul Grabowsky has composed an opening fanfare in the style of 1970s serious television programmes following it (in Alfred Schnittke mode) as the personalities of Frost and Nixon are explored with scene linking music, a dissonant violin resisting a piano accompaniment, suggesting the uneasy relationship between the two 'instruments' fighting over who will be the soloist.
Frost Nixon (2006) by Peter Morgan
David Frost - John Adam
Richard Nixon - Marshall Napier
Jim Reston Jnr - Teague Rook
Jack Brennan - Neil Pigot
John Birt - Yalnin Ozucelik
Bob Zelnick - David Tredinnick
Manolo Sanchez - Greg Ulfan
Caroline Cushing - Kat Stewart
Irving 'Swifty' Lazar - Bruce Myles
Evonne Goolagong - Jada Alberts
Director - Roger Hodgman
Set Designer - Richard Roberts
Costume Designer - Judith Cobb
Lighting Designer - Matt Scott
Composer - Paul Grabowsky
Fairfax Studio, The Arts Centre
23 May - 5 July 2008
Duration - 120 minutes (including 1 interval)
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