What I liked
Great writing and direction. Amazingly polished performance from a highly skilled actor. One-person shows are a difficult proposition, at least for me as a viewer, so I’m always amazed at the ability to incorporate tremendous variety, entertainment and sustained curiosity throughout shows like this, and this one does it incredibly.
What I didn't like
Hmm, what could be improved? I think it’s not an improvement thing, but a little bit of tension as to why we want to watch this story now in history and shine a spotlight on a villain. I’m glad I watched it, but I think this particular vile character from history could be part of a larger play.— although I can’t really say that, because getting to know him fully here was really incredible and that wouldn’t happen in a narrative play.
But I don’t think there was a takeaway from why we want to watch this villain’s story. Like we learned how someone could get to this point, but no feeling of a word of warning about how to avoid it, or come away from the play hoping desperately we can stop whoever it is next time. But it’s hard to connect such a distant story to a current immediacy. Instead it’s a deeply satisfying way to enliven a historical portrait and really that’s enough, but could add some deeper resonance perhaps? Not really sure how though!
My overall impression
Tremendous performance from Stephen Spiegel..! Shows a ton of range and polish, embodies Wilkes Booth incredibly, really feel a sense of the historical personality, and I want to believe it’s exactly as Stephen chooses to show it to us here.
