A line in Blind Date states, “we are the sum of our choices”. It’s an apt sentiment describing playwright Rogelio Martinez’s story about a 1985 meeting of titans in Geneva, Switzerland during the waning years of the Cold War. The United States and Russia hadn’t been talking for years. An ominous pall that had been shrouding the world as the result of a superpower stalemate persisted. What would happen if the two most powerful men on the globe, Ronald Reagan and Russia’s Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to sit down face-to-face for the first time? Would the outcome of this diplomatic date be good or bad?
The Goodman’s production, with Artistic Director Robert Falls directing, does a fine job of recreating the sense of historic consequence surrounding the summit. The diplomatic dance between Secretary of State George Schultz (Jim Ortlieb) and Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eduard Shevardnadze (Steve Pickering) carries the heft of true gravitas.
But it’s the interchange between the women that gives the play its soul. No matter how powerful the man, there is often a very smart woman weighing in on how things should transpire. Nancy Reagan’s petite stature and chic reserve belied the formidability of her influence. And from the vantage point of the play, her Russian counterpart, Raisa Gorbachev (Mary Beth Fisher) was just as imposing intellectually and strategically.
The scene capturing their private tea in the White House revealed how easily such tête-à-têtes can devolve into wars fought in velvet. As Nancy Reagan, Deanna Dunagan not only nailed her appearance and speech, she also caught that steely unflappability that was so much a hallmark of former First Lady’s character. During the tea, the two women appraised each other as if they were inspecting livestock. Neither seemed pleased with what she found. Allowing each of them to speak directly to the audience as if they were confidentially expressing their inner thoughts, the tension between them gets leavened with humor.
As solid a performance as you get on any stage, Blind Date succeeds in bringing the past forward to be re-examined through the lens of the present. Ronald Reagan (Rob Riley) receives unusually sympathetic treatment. Not only does he convey an air of heady competence, there’s a courtliness about the character that exudes confidence. One sees none of the peeved indignation that characterized his speech in front of the Germany’s Brandenburg Gate two years after the Swedish summit ; nor was there an inkling of the man who repeatedly referred to the Soviet Union as the “evil empire”.
Endowed with a cast of thoroughbreds, each of the play’s lead performers dispatched their roles with perfect poise and assurance. Scenic designer Riccardo Hernandez’s clever technique of placing some of the sets within a revolving silo was novel and quite effective.
Blind Date
January 20 – February 25, 2018
Goodman Theater
170 N. Dearborn
Chicago, IL 60601
