Rumble in the jungle

With an endless choice of world-renowned plays popping out every week in Central London, one might wonder why one need even look at the smaller theatres for entertainment. The answer, is that it is often only in off-the-beaten-track locations that you can find surprising little gems like the one staged at Richmond’s Orange Tree Theatre, The White House Murder Case. The play is as satirical as it is topical, with US federal elections taking place in a fortnight. The performance takes us to a time in which the US is at war (surprise surprise) with several countries, and reeling from the loss of 750 soldiers in a guerilla conflict in Brazil. The accident, caused by a monumental cock-up has to be accounted for by the President; all this only 6 weeks before the elections!

As the President, played by Bruce Alexander, and his team of pragmatic yet heartless advisors try to come up with a decent explanation for the backfire of their operations down south, another catastrophe occurs in the Oval Office itself: the First Lady is murdered! This, however, is far from being the central drama that the storyline draws out.

Writer, Jules Feiffer, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his newspaper cartoons, sets it as a cynically witty story happening sometime in the 2010s. Yet, he wrote the play in the 1970s! This is just one of the many ironies sprinkled across the script; a sarcasticnote that the black and white world of realpolitik hasn’t changed much over the last half century. Director Christopher Morahan handles the recreation of the scenes fairly well within the minimalist environment. The stage literally takes up eight square metres and is smartly divided in two: one half taken up by the political set of the White House, the other by two unfortunate surviving soldiers in the backdrop of the warring Brazilian jungle. The scenarios are played in parallel, with scenes oscillating between the US and Brazil, both bringing their handfuls of satire. Yet, while the back and forth between the two locations goes smoothly, the two worlds slowly lose their connectivity and could have been tied up more wittily in the end. Only a minor point for discontent.

The intimate 170 seat Orange Tree Theatre, which bills itself as a patron for new and ‘undiscovered’ writing from the UK and abroad, lends itself perfectly to resuscitate Feiffer’s work. For a bit more than a tenner (or £5 if you’re under 26) you get to laugh for two hours and enjoy a spotless crew of actors in a pleasantly different ambiance from the impersonal West End gigs. This is recommended to get a good taste of the full portfolio of entertainment London has to offer.

At the Orange Tree Theatre until November 10th. Tickets £5-£22.