Voir Dire

SEATTLE A Seattle Repertory Theatre presentation of a play in two acts by Joe Sutton. Directed by Doug Hughes.

Cast: Vanessa Aspillaga (Teresa Marquez), Matthew Sussman (Michael Kessler), Babo Harrison (Gloria Neiman), Audrie Neenan (Isobel Puchinski), Karen Kandel (Debra Whatley), Anne Marie Cummings (Faith Stewart Hubbard), Kevin C. Loomis, William Hayes (court officers).

Although it was written pre-O.J., Joe Sutton's "Voir Dire" is laden with eerie echoes of the Simpson trial -- which is fortunate or unfortunate, depending on your point of view. Fortunate, because it virtually guarantees the play rapt audiences wherever it appears; unfortunate, because the parallels between the two dramas are so uncanny, one can't watch the play without reflecting on the real-life tragedy.

Knowing that "Voir Dire" was drafted in 1992, when Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman were still very much alive, it is nothing less than bizarre to watch the details of the scenario unfold: A prominent black man in New York City is being tried for drug possession. He has a history of drug use. The prosecution claims it is an open-and-shut case; the defense argues that the man has been framed by a racist police department. The jury -- a racially mixed group of six -- is left to untangle the knotted cords of corruption, racism, guilt and doubt that threaten to leave them without a verdict.

Substitute "L.A." and "murder" for "New York" and "drug possession" and we might as well be watching the six o'clock news.

Playwright Sutton, however, is capable of focusing a viewer's attention in ways the news cannot. Rather than poring over the facts of the case, Sutton concentrates on the way the facts are interpreted by the members of the jury -- how they are colored, as it were, by each individual's life experiences.

This was a matter of frustration to some audience members, who complained at the intermission that the playwright failed to lay out all the facts first, before launching into the jury's deliberations. But this omission forces viewers to focus on the jurors and their thought processes rather than the ultimate guilt or innocence of the defendant (whom, in fact, we never see). As in the Simpson case, the verdict is almost unimportant. What is important is what the case says about crime, justice and race in America. "Voir Dire" shows us once again that in this country white people and black people view the criminal justice system completely differently, and that the distinction between law enforcement and police brutality is often in the eye of the beholder. The play also demonstrates that the notion of a jury of one's peers is not as simple as it sounds. In a society divided by race and class, one's peers can be difficult, if not impossible, to identify.

Topical? Yes. Powerfully theatrical? Well ... this is where the ghost of the Simpson case haunts "Voir Dire." Compared with the real-life spectacle of a slow-speed chase on the L.A. freeway, a sports hero in handcuffs and a cop spewing the word "nigger" into a bugged telephone, Sutton's script pales. It is a talky, thoughtful, two-hour showdown between competing ideologies -- on the one hand represented by a law-and-order-type juror (Matthew Sussman), and on the other by a leftist feminist (Babo Harrison). It just can't compete with the visceral punch of its real-life counterpart. This may be an unfair comparison, but it is one almost impossible to avoid.

Still, even if this drama is less dramatic than reality, it has much to recommend it. Sutton's characteristics are, for the most part, fully formed and nonstereotypical. It is gratifying to note that one of the characters who talks the most sense -- the feminist -- is also one of the least likable. In fact, there's not a single completely sympatheticcharacter in this play. There are no clear-cut good guys and bad guys. It's this kind of depth and originality that makes "Voir Dire" worthy of all the attention it has garnered in the country's resident theaters.

The Seattle Repertory Theater presented this play on its second stage last year under Doug Hughes' direction, and this season bumped it up to its mainstage , again with Hughes at the helm. Several of the actors reprise their roles, including Harrison as Gloria, Vanessa Aspillaga as the quiet but perceptive Latina juror, Teresa, and Karen Kandel as the only African-American on the jury (improbable as that may seem for New York City), who hides 400 years of bitterness behind a professional, dignified manner. New to the cast are Sussman as Michael, and Audrie Neenan as a fast-talking career woman who sides with him. The only off note is delivered by Anne Marie Cummings, whose repeat portrayal of a flighty young innocent goes over the top, into the realm of Valley Girl on speed.

The move to the mainstage has put more distance between the actors and the audience, but designer Andrew Wood Boughton has done a fine job of re-creating both the intimacy and claustrophobia of the jury room and the hotel rooms where the jurors are sequestered.

The title "Voir Dire" refers to the process of interviewing prospective jurors during selection. Sutton speaks much truth in this play; let's hope it's not drowned out by the hysteria surrounding the Simpson trial.

Sets, Andrew Wood Boughton; costumes, Catherine Meacham-Hunt; lighting, Greg Sullivan; sound, Steven M. Klein; music, Benet Fleck; stage manager, Diana Johns; casting, Meg Simon. Artistic director, Daniel Sullivan; managing director, Benjamin Moore; associate artistic director, Doug Hughes. Opened, reviewed Oct. 18, 1995, at Seattle Repertory Theater; 856 seats; $ 36 top. Running time:2 HOURS, 10 MIN.

Variety is striving to present the most thorough review database. To report inaccuracies in review credits, please click here. We do not currently list below-the-line credits, although we hope to include them in the future. Please note we may not respond to every suggestion. Your assistance is appreciated.