‘Ben Butler’ takes stage at Curtain Call Theatre

LATHAM, N.Y. >> “Ben Butler” is the title of a play that is unfamiliar to most people.

It’s about a three-day debate between Major-General Ben Butler and escaped slave Shepard Mallory. It is an event that actually took place and changed national policy towards escaped slaves during the Civil War. The play is a fictional recreation of that event.

Patrick White, who is directing the play, which runs at Curtain Call Theatre in Latham, Jan. 23 thru Feb. 8, says he explains the show to friends by saying, “Imagine a general in the Union Army who gets the assignment of being in charge of an important military base at the start of the Civil War. Further imagine that after the first week or so on the job, the state in which you are located secedes from the Union. The next day, three slaves show up at your door demanding sanctuary.”

With a hearty laugh, White adds, “And it’s a comedy.”

The key, in terms of visualizing the situation as a comedy, is “He shows up demanding.” Chris Foster, the actor who plays Butler, says about the slave Shepard Mallory: “He tends to be arrogant, especially for a man in his position. He wants what he wants and is determined to get it.”

However, Foster qualifies his comments about Mallory, saying the slave is “playfully antagonistic.” He continues, saying, “Mallory gets under Butler’s skin deliberately. Which is where the laughs come in.” As Foster points out, “Mallory reads Butler perfectly. He senses the general is a man with a strong conscience.

“As a practiced defense attorney, Butler is not a by-the-book kind of lawyer. Mallory instinctively knows this is the man who can save him.”

White agrees with Foster. He points out that “Shepard Mallory enters the room a piece of property and leaves a weapon of war.” He says that Butler would like nothing better than to be rid of the problem. It would make his life easier just to follow the law and return the slave to his owner. He doesn’t have to do what he does.

“But as a man of conscience, he feels he has no choice but to fight for Mallory’s freedom. It is certain that if the slave returns to his owner, he will be killed.”

Neither man wants to diminish the seriousness of the play’s theme, which means they are cautious about specifically discussing where the comedy comes from. But they do generalize.

For starters, they insist the premise of an on-going debate between two intelligent men who are unequal in every other way can be quite funny. And, they point out there are shades of the old television sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes” in the situation, where a prisoner bests his captors.

And too, though the characters have a sense of nobility, their self-interested points of view conflict and offer great potential for comedy.

Making the rehearsal period more interesting and challenging is in telling about this actual event that the playwright Richard Strand’s version of Butler takes a lot of creative license. Foster said he gave up researching the character as written because it was at odds with history. Butler was, by every account, a failure as a military man, and his post-war career as a politician paints him as a dubious success.

“History has vilified the man,” says Foster.

After the war, Butler was an ambitious man. As a member of the House of Representatives in the United States Congress (1867-75), he was on the wrong side of history, taking a lead role for the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. He delivered the opening argument for bringing the charges against the sitting president.

He ran for Governor of Massachusetts, winning on the third try in 1882, but served only a single term. He also ran a campaign for the presidency in 1884 (as a candidate of two splinter party’s), which he lost to Grover Cleveland.

Neither man seems concerned about the possible misleading portrait offered of Butler in the show. Says Foster, “My job is to play the text. I find Butler very intelligent, with a deep social conscience. He is a humorous man who loved to joke. But he is serious about doing the right thing. My sense is the play captures the essence of the man. I like him.”

White says, “It’s about a moment in time. The fact is he made a very difficult, controversial and brave decision. For that he should be commended.” As a theatrical figure, the director sees him as fascinating. “Butler is a methodical, orderly man.

“By plays end, he becomes a warrior for what’s right. That makes for great theater.”

“Ben Butler” at Curtain Call Theatre, 1 Jeanne Jugan Lane, Latham Jan. 23 through Feb. 8. For tickets and schedule information call (518) 877-7529 or go to Brown Paper Tickets at bpt.me