'O Captain' poetically honors former president
Erica Hope
Issue date: 1/30/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Theater is intended to delight the masses, yet in a genius quest to create something beautiful many viewers are often left behind. This production of "O Captain, My Captain: Whitman's Lincoln" was one of these performances. It endeavors to be so intensely beautiful and impressive that it seems best intended for only the most serious of intellectuals.
"O Captain, My Captain" is a 90-minute monologue with no intermission performed by its own creator, Bill Van Horn. His character is none other than the flavorful poet Walt Whitman.
Years before Lincoln entered the White House, Whitman commented that he would be "much pleased to see some heroic, shrewd, fully-formed, healthy-bodied, middle-aged, beard-faced American blacksmith or boatman come down from the West across the Alleghenies, and walk into the Presidency, dressed in a clean suit of working attire, and with the tan all over his face, breast and arms." Therefore, it was only natural that when he encountered Lincoln he quickly became a staunch supporter. Although the two never become close friends, they were aware of each other's presence. Later, observers noted that Lincoln was transfixed as he read Whitman's poetry book "Leaves of Grass." Conversely, it was in Lincoln that this poet saw hope for America, and therefore it is Whitman's view of America and account of her politics during the civil war era that prove fixating.
Heralded then as a notable and certainly likable enough source, the audience sits in Whitman's well-furnished living room, with couches and elaborate chairs for about 30, and even shares cornbread and lemonade while he unravels his emotional and very dramatic account of President Lincoln's life.
When one gets over the initial exuberance that is guaranteed by such comfortable theater chairs, one is quickly engrossed by Whitman's dynamic act of story telling. He tells us of his connection to the theater realm and gives a behind the scene bird's eye on the notorious John Wilkes Booth. His immediate gesture while illustrating Booth's malicious plot brings the eye to the center of the left hand wall where Booth's image hangs. On the opposite wall, dramatically juxtaposed, another frame rests of equal size but of different homage. This second frame decorates a portrait of Lincoln.
"O Captain, My Captain" is a 90-minute monologue with no intermission performed by its own creator, Bill Van Horn. His character is none other than the flavorful poet Walt Whitman.
Years before Lincoln entered the White House, Whitman commented that he would be "much pleased to see some heroic, shrewd, fully-formed, healthy-bodied, middle-aged, beard-faced American blacksmith or boatman come down from the West across the Alleghenies, and walk into the Presidency, dressed in a clean suit of working attire, and with the tan all over his face, breast and arms." Therefore, it was only natural that when he encountered Lincoln he quickly became a staunch supporter. Although the two never become close friends, they were aware of each other's presence. Later, observers noted that Lincoln was transfixed as he read Whitman's poetry book "Leaves of Grass." Conversely, it was in Lincoln that this poet saw hope for America, and therefore it is Whitman's view of America and account of her politics during the civil war era that prove fixating.
Heralded then as a notable and certainly likable enough source, the audience sits in Whitman's well-furnished living room, with couches and elaborate chairs for about 30, and even shares cornbread and lemonade while he unravels his emotional and very dramatic account of President Lincoln's life.
When one gets over the initial exuberance that is guaranteed by such comfortable theater chairs, one is quickly engrossed by Whitman's dynamic act of story telling. He tells us of his connection to the theater realm and gives a behind the scene bird's eye on the notorious John Wilkes Booth. His immediate gesture while illustrating Booth's malicious plot brings the eye to the center of the left hand wall where Booth's image hangs. On the opposite wall, dramatically juxtaposed, another frame rests of equal size but of different homage. This second frame decorates a portrait of Lincoln.
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