Struggling at the end of a life well lived
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | April 8, 2009
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Former attorney general Judge Francis Biddle (Jonathan McMurtry) has spent the better part of the 20th century as a brilliant, influential, and morally courageous man of law. But by 1967, nearing 82 years old, he is cantankerous and difficult, can barely move around his DC office, and is subject to terrifying "lapses," when his mind zooms away in the middle of a | TRYING | by Joanna McClelland Glass | Directed by Paul Mullins | Produced by Portland Stage Company | through April 19 | 207.774.0465 |
thought. Worse, he's sharp enough to be aware of his decline. Under these circumstances, the ways of the young are a real aggravation to Biddle — especially when his new secretary, Sarah Schorr (Sofia Jean Gomez), turns out to be a "brazen" one. But Biddle knows he has little time left — certainly not enough to waste any finding yet another secretary. And so the title assumes an evolution of meanings in Trying, an autobiographical drama by Joanna McClelland Glass, based on her experiences with the real-life Judge Biddle. It is on stage now in an affecting production by Portland Stage Company, under the direction of Paul Mullins.Biddle and Sarah have significantly different origins: The Judge comes from a line of distinguished, wealthy Georgetown men of law — including the nation's first attorney general — and attended Groton and Harvard. Sarah comes from modest means on the Saskatchewan prairie, took her first job at age 11, when her dad started drinking, and was educated in a non-Ivy fashion of which she's fiercely proud. But despite generational and class differences, the Judge and Sarah share a love of literature, a savvy for politics, and deep convictions about poverty and civil rights. Their relationship evolves significantly over the year they spend working together in his office (beautifully rendered by Debra Booth: brickwork, leather, legal volumes, windows suggesting the light and seasonally changing view of an upper story). This year will be his last. The younger woman is the catalyst of Biddle's reckoning, and helps him prepare for the end.
The process involves a review of Biddle's career, which placed him in extraordinary positions during pivotal moments of the 20th century: He served as attorney general under FDR — opposing the internment of Japanese-Americans — and later as a judge at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremburg. (As usual, PSC's supplementary "Play Notes" are worth the few bucks, particularly if you're interested in the political context of Biddle's work.) The dialogue incorporates a great deal of historical and literary reference — sometimes in what feel like overly expository devices, but often to revelatory and poignant effect. Listen for Biddle's striking denouncement of that "mystic" phrase, "military necessity;" listen as he and Sarah trade e.e. cummings quotes ("I will not kiss your fucking flag"). Their shared affinities allow Biddle to reflect with increasing candor on both his life and his imminent death.
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