‘Kunstler’ makes its debut in London
After much acclaim, itheatre Saratoga play stages abroad
When the play “Kunstler” opens, the eponymous lawyer William Kunstler is walking through a crowd of students in 1995 protesting his appearance speaking at Columbia University. It is a timely parallel, given the college protests that erupted in recent weeks, that is lost on neither itheatre Saratoga/the Creative Place International, which is producing the show, nor London audiences where the play is making its London debut.
“Theater when it’s really alive, when it’s doing what it needs to do, is speaking to the world,” said Mary Jane Hansen, itheatre Saratoga/cpi artistic director. “When theater is rooted in the truth, it resonates through generations.”
“Kunstler” by Jeffrey Sweet first debuted in 2014 at the New York Fringe Festival, followed by a string of buzzy runs at 59E59 Off-broadway, Barrington Stage Company (twice) and Universal Preservation Hall, each produced by itheatre Saratoga/cpi, a theater company focused on new works in Saratoga Springs. The production — along star and Broadway veteran Jeff Mccarthy for whom the role of Kunstler was written and under the direction of Meagan Fay, who knew Kunstler as “Uncle Bill” — is running at White Bear Theatre in London.
By 1995, when the play is set, the real-life Kunstler had become a polarizing figure. While he built a career as a civil activist and radical lawyer whose cases included defending the Chicago 7 and prisoners
in the Attica uprising, Kunstler had become the enemy because of his later work, including his “Black rage” defense of Colin Ferguson, who murdered six passengers on the Long Island Railroad in 1993. It’s why in “Kunstler,” the lawyer is faced with shouts of protest and an effigy hung at the lectern and Kerry, the young Black law student forced to introduce his speech, isn’t precious about hiding her disapproval of Kunstler.
Because the show is tightly woven with American politics, Will Severin, itheatre Saratoga/ CPI chairman, was unsure how audiences in London would respond, but it had been a goal of Sweet’s to see the production performed across the pond. There is no question that “Kunstler,” now halfway through its two-and-a-half week run at White Bear, resonates with London audiences like it did with its American counterparts. Mccarthy nabbed an acting nomination for The Offies, the off-west End awards equivalent of Off-broadway’s prestigious Obie Awards.
“The civil rights cases Kunstler recounts are unfortunately more timely now than ever was before,” said Severin, who is also the production’s sound designer and composer. “(The audiences) get the social commentary and political relevance and how things haven’t really changed much since then ... That’s an interesting take from another country that our history — they’re seeing this history. There are parallels in every country.”
That reception is reflective of the play’s continued relevancy, said Hansen, who is also the production stage manager for “Kunstler,” pointing to one of the conversations the two characters share. When Kunstler begins describing how Black people were treated in the 1970s, “back in those days,” Kerry, played by Nykila Norman, pushes back saying it’s still an issue in the 1990s, when the play is set, and audiences in the 2020s recognize it is still a problem.
“That’s human nature, right?” Hansen said. “We do the same thing over and over again, make the same stupid mistakes. We have to be reminded of them. That’s what history is for. That’s what theater, when it’s working properly, is there to remind us of — what we did in the past and what we continue to do and what we could do better.”
“Kunstler” is presented in collaboration with Andtheatre Company and Hint of Lime Productions.