The combination of a new play by David Hare, under the direction of Nicholas Hytner with Ralph Fiennes in the lead promises an evening of theatrical magic. Those of us old enough to have seen Sir Anthony Hopkins triumphant return to the West End stage in David Hare’s Pravda in 1985 at the National Theatre have seen it work before. Hytner seems to have transferred that magic that the National Theatre used to create to his new home at the Bridge Theatre, so picturesquely set in the sight of Tower Bridge and David Hare has again created another monstrous dominant central character that demands loyalty to his single-minded vision at a cost of everything else that matters in life. The result is a fascinating portrait of the man who shaped the Expressway network and parks that give modern New York its distinctive look and feel while exposing his dated misogynistic views and the modern debate about mass transit, cycle lanes and walking versus the private cars we have all come to depend on. At its heart is another extraordinary portrayal by Ralph Fiennes as Bob Moses.
Hare uses two pivotal moments in Moses’s career to explore the character and the response of the public and the ruling classes to his vision. In the first Act, he is forcing through his opening up of Long Island to the middle classes with the support of Governor Al Smith by building two expressways down either side and a beach resort at Long Island Beach. Here the opposition is the gentrified landowners of the upper classes who regard it as their personal playground. In the Second Act, we jump forward thirty years to the mid-fifties and a plan to build an Expressway through the Washington Square Park on the pretence that it removes a bottleneck which has the effect of unifying a coalition of opposing forces from those who have had their communities destroyed by the Expressways to those who believe that cars need to be discouraged in favour of more efficient green transport. This gives the piece a strong modern resonance as so many Cities introduce cycle lanes and congestion zones to discourage travel by car. If the Mayor of London was still in his old office in City Hall next to the Bridge Theatre, he would be whooping with delight at the defeat of the private car supporters in this play!
