Lee Harvey Oswald by Michael Hastings explores the lives of Lee Harvey Oswald (played by Adam Gillen), his Russian wife Marina (Gemma Lawrence) and his overbearing (to put it lightly) mother, Marguerite (Hilary Tones). Forgive me whilst I paint American history in some rather large brush-strokes; Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested as the prime suspect responsible for assassinating John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK), the then President of the USA, at 12.30pm on 22nd November 1963. However, Lee was murdered just 48 hours after having been arrested, meaning that his sentence remains in question. The play uses extracts from the Warren Commission report (Patrick Poletti plays the Commissioner in our production), containing real interviews held with Marina and Marguerite in 1963/64, which Hastings uses as a platform from which to reimagine scenes from the Oswalds’ home-life.
From the first day in the rehearsal room the Director, Alex Thorpe made it clear that we aren’t seeking to accurately recreate the real Lee Harvey Oswald, his wife and mother on stage (cue audible sigh of relief). Rather, our intentions are to tell a story that remains largely untold- Lee the father, husband and son and the women who loved him. Despite our best intentions, with the wealth of information available to us, real-life film footage, interviews, newspaper clippings, photographs, documentaries, Hollywood films, books, novels and cartoons concerning JFK’s assassination and the hundreds of conspiracy theories that surround it, we’ve all become completely enthralled in research. I, for one, can’t look at an innocent family photograph of the Oswalds at home without scanning the background for some kind of evidence that might shed new light on Lee’s sentence; I suspect that Alex has signed us all up to a lot more than we bargained for.
Indeed, that so much remains unresolved and that Lee’s guilt is by no means certain makes for an utterly compelling subject matter for everyone working on the production. We are using our research to delve deeper into the world of the play, and although we are careful not to embark on the wrong mission (who dun it?), we do have to start making some decisions in our own minds for the purposes of the production; each actor needs to decide what their character believes to be the truth in order to ensure the clarity of each scene, their intentions, and to create a clear and believable narrative which will engage our audience. For Gemma, Hilary and Patrick, their characters each need to form an opinion, for Adam however, the task is a little harder, for Adam has to make the ultimate decision in his mind as to whether his character Lee is ultimately guilty or has been framed. We’re only in week one and so the initial choices that we’ve made might well change and develop over time, and Alex and the cast are open to that. But the biggest question in the room remains, what happens if we solve the case once and for all along the way?
Lee Harvey Oswald, written by Michael Hastings and Directed by Alex Thorpe is showing at the Finborough Theatre, London on 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19 & 22 November 2013 for tickets click here.
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