This play came out in 2008, was adapted and shown as Ides of March (George Clooney) in 2011, and played at the Southwark Playhouse 2013. American politics as a morality play : no principles involved, just machinations and who can out-smart the next guy … David Mamet territory.

Stephen is main Public Relations man to Paul Zara, the President’s chief (we see the President’s posters but never meet him) hubristic and cocky, slowly unraveling, played by Brad Johnson. Paul himself (good to see Harry Reeder on stage again) is also sure of success, but - and in this he differs from Stephen, he does have standards; he values loyalty to himself. New York Times hot-shot journalist Ida (Jill Ruane) (is there any other sort?) goes after the main story, no matter what. Molly, a 19 year old unpaid intern who thinks she is a real employee, (Olivia Barton-Fisher) is prepared not only to work hard but bed whoever might help her on the way up (anybody remember the Clinton/Lewinsky affair?) And Tom Duffy, played by John McSpadyen (another welcome returnee to our stage) is the Machiavellian opposition boss, intent on getting Stephen away from Zara. Shorter roles are played by Sam Macqueen as Ben, young newcomer and side-kick to Stephen, Nigel Oram as old friend Frank, and an unnamed waitress. This last part was beautifully played by Bianca Beckles-Rose, who managed an Italian/American accent, spoke clearly and with body movements aptly describing her feelings - face, shoulders, hands all involved. Ben, too, did a good job of showing he was a newcomer with potential and one with a political future, asserting himself in the last few minutes.

There were plots and sub-plots, but the central theme is Duffy’s scheme to remove successful publicity manager Stephen away from Zara, thus weakening their campaign. He invites Stephen to a secret meeting with him. Stephen’s hubristic vanity makes him accept - thus, either way, he is done for. Either he agrees to ditch Zara and work for Duffy, proving his untrustworthiness, or he doesn’t but Duffy tells Zara about the meeting so he gets sacked for disloyalty. Duffy is in a win-win situation, because Stephen has lost out the minute he agreed to the meeting.

I expected a fast moving, amusing, sophisticated show - which this almost is, but a bit short on laughs. The long opening scene is important so the schemes are understood, and the sense of conspiracy heightened by everyone sitting close together, heads almost touching. One half of the stage would eventually become a hotel bedroom, so perhaps that’s the reason that area was not encroached upon, though I did sometimes wish someone would just jump up and move around. Confrontation was also expressed by characters frequently standing face to face but never touching - surprising, considering how touchy-feely most Americans are. Harry’s American accent was convincing, and his loud, clear voice helped portray a man who believed in himself. Brad - main character Stephen - was underpowered in the first act, but later on, his gradual understanding of Duffy’s manipulation was well portrayed. I liked McSpadyen’s quiet smile as he patiently showed Stephen how he was sunk, whichever way he turned. Jill’s method of winkling out secrets was rather more smiley than hard-as-nails, but it worked! Power dressing is a good short-cut to revealing a character, and somehow Jill seemed to me a little too casually dressed. Though written in 2008, no one smoked on stage, and this too is a good shortcut to making it relevant to our times.

The screen upstage could, especially during scene changes, have shown caucuses and vociferous electioneering, American style with razzmatazz, balloons, etc. Instead, 2 second shots flashed onto the screen, showing body parts of people on stage - eye glasses, fingers, rings - which frankly confused me. I have since been told that it was meant to portray a sense of people being watched - if this is true, it was a good idea which did not quite come off. Nevertheless, I welcome contemporary plays in the season and look forward to many more.

Finally, I would like to make a general observation. In her recent Desert Island Discs, Judy Dench lamented that actors today do not aim their voices up to “that little man in the back row of the upper circle”. This is true of many professional productions, but it is equally true of companies performing in small theatres. Stage actors are not in a TV studio where microphones can pick up each syllable. Every person in the back row should be able to hear. Because rehearsals are frequently in confined spaces, and transition to the stage is necessarily brief with almost no time for acclimatization, even rehearsals must pay attention to voice projection.