The Originalist

B+

Since Justice Antonin Scalia was the most relentlessly conservative figure on the Supreme Court, whose scathing opinions were anathema to liberals, I was initially reluctant to devote an evening to a play about him. However, my curiosity was piqued by the fact that Ruth Bader Ginsburg considered him her closest friend on the court. Furthermore, John Strand’s play, commissioned by Arena Stage in 2015 as part of its ambitious initiative to produce 25 new plays about American history, was so well received that is was brought back to Washington for an encore run after being staged in Sarasota, Chicago and Pasadena. It has finally reached New York in a production at 59E59 Theater A. The key to the play’s warm reception is a remarkable performance by Edward Gero as Scalia. He not only has an uncanny resemblance to the late justice, but builds a rounded believable version of him. The story is based on Scalia’s custom of hiring a liberal as one of his four clerks to serve as his intellectual sparring partner. In the play, he chooses Cat (British actress Tracy Ifeachor), a flaming African-American liberal, as a clerk for the 2012-13 session. Without giving up their views, the two gradually grow closer together as the year progresses. Scalia charges Cat with the job of researching his dissent on the Windsor same-sex marriage case. To gin up the drama a bit, the playwright has Scalia bring on board Brad (Brett Mack), the smarmy privileged Harvard Law classmate she beat out for the clerkship, to assist her with the dissent. Brad knows something about Cat that he thinks Scalia doesn’t. The play could hardly be more timely with its mention of Roe v. Wade and growing polarization. While generally well crafted, the play occasionally becomes more didactic than dramatic. The set design by Misha Kachman makes effective use of a square parquet stage, a massive desk, a few chairs, a red velvet curtain and four chandeliers. The costumes by Joseph P. Salasovich are apt. Molly Smith, Arena Stage’s artistic director, keeps things moving briskly. I was more comfortable when I thought that Justice Scalia was a monster; learning that he had a human side was discomfiting but ultimately rewarding. Running time: one hour 50 minutes; no intermission. NOTE: Each audience member is presented with a copy of the Constitution at the exit.