Arguing about words: What a time it is for a play about them! Even more than when American discussed what the meaning of “is” is, we’re ripe for this play, the one with the line “I’m not interested in accuracy, I’m interested in the truth.” The Lifespan of a Fact considers itself a comedy. And yet….
It's opened at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis on the Mainstage, a story about a piece that editor Emily Penrose (Perri Gaffney) wants to publish in the magazine she heads up. She’s so excited about the work from well-known author, John D’Agata (Brian Slaten) that she’s practically yelling, “Stop the presses!” - which, to my understanding, just doesn’t happen with magazines. The story about the suicide of a teenager in Las Vegas just needs to be fact-checked first.
Even writers with great reputations get fact checked. Unfortunately, cost-cutting and the reorganization have left the magazine with no fact checkers. The work is handed out to various employees middle management thinks can do the job. Summoned for this particular task is Jim Fingal (Griffin Osborne), an intern who’s been there six months and whose primary interest is integrating computers. But, as he quickly and repeatedly points out, he worked on the Harvard Crimson. That impresses neither editor Penrose or author D’Agata.
D’Agata lives in Las Vegas, meaning phone consultations, the manuscript is about 15 pages long, and there are five days before things go to press. Of course, Fingal tells editor Penrose, he can get it done in that time, no problem. Riiiiiiight….
Things are off to a bad start when young Fingal, on the initial phone call with the author, calls the piece an “article” and D’Agata sarcastically tells him it’s an essay. It gets worse from there. Fingal has found all sorts of discrepancies in just the first paragraph, for heavens’ sake. Penrose, who’s never worked with either of them before, just wants the job done.
The script of The Lifespan of a Fact is credited to “Jeremy Kareken & David Murrell and Gordon Farrell”. Who knows why the credits use an ampersand and the word “and”? To further confuse things, it’s based on the book of the same name by the actual John D’Agata and Jim Fingal. They write about their experience, exponentially longer than five days, with the real article/essay, which was originally commissioned by Harper’s Magazine and then pulled and killed. (Yes. This is indeed beginning to resemble one of those matryoshka, the Russian nesting dolls.) Kareken, Murrell and Farrell, no matter their chosen conjunctions, give us a very funny, very smart 85 minutes of dialogue.
It’s a well-cast show that director Meredith McDonough has created, but perhaps pride of place goes to Gaffney’s Penrose, strong and in charge and owning some of the best lines in the play. Osborne, as Jim Fingal, makes us understand just how important what might seem like nitpicking can be, as Penrose ponders just where to draw the line on accuracy of details. Brian Slaten carefully exploses D’Agata’s professional need to create art, no matter the cost of the details.
If your hackles rise at the word “truthiness”, this is the show for you. If you like words – or worry about journalistic accuracy – or had even a passing thought about how the printed word gets in front of us, this is a must-see, if only to understand how humor can infuse a very serious subject.
The Lifespan of a Fact
through November 10
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis
130 Edgar Rd., Webster Groves
Comments