Sex scandals are nothing new, from Thebes to the Beltway. Long before Gary Condit, long before Bill Clinton, long before Mark Foley, there was the story of a rather prominent politician deemed unfit to rule by his public once sordid details of his private life were revealed.
His name was Oedipus, the mama’s-boy king immortalized by Sophocles.
Politicians should know better.
But power, Henry Kissinger famously said, “is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” Interesting that one of the world’s most connected politicians chose not a word like, say, bloodlust, which might mingle our notions of power and military might, but rather a word that connotes sexual arousal.
In Washington, power translates to status, wealth and influence. And, both history and playwright Rob Handel tell us, power also manifests itself in hypocrisy, sex and, in some cases, murder.
Handel was inspired to write his new play “Aphrodisiac” by the still unsolved 2001 killing of 24-year-old intern Chandra Levy, who disappeared after having an affair with married California congressman Gary Condit. He may or may not have had anything to do with Levy’s death, but he was one of the “blue dog” Democrats who voted in favor of an impeachment inquiry after Clinton lied about his relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky.
In the play, which Curious Theatre opens Saturday in its regional premiere, the two adult children of a Condit-like figure try to unravel the mystery – not of Levy’s disappearance, but of who their lying, philandering father really is. That father is neither seen nor named because he could just as well be Mark Foley or Dan Crane or dozens of other cheating politicos. For that matter, Alexander Hamilton was blackmailed by his mistress’ husband back in 1794.
“When you are talking about power as an aphrodisiac, this could be a story about anyone,” said actor Josh Robinson, who plays the Condit-like congressman’s son, Avery Ferris. “There are so many examples, it almost becomes generic at some point. The universality here is for any children who are trying to understand a parent, or parts of their lives they were never privy to.”
With power, said Jessica Roblee, who plays daughter Alma, comes vulnerability. “You are watched so much once you have power, and yet no one can know you because you can never reveal too much information. So even your children don’t necessarily know you. In this play, they don’t know the real story, so the media becomes their lens, which is really kind of disturbing.”
And distorted, Robinson added.
“Aphrodisiac” recounts almost verbatim Condit’s famously bizarre and combative face-off with Connie Chung, which makes Robinson wonder why, in the weeks leading up to 9/11, our nation was so fixated on this relatively unknown politician and his missing intern.
“And why it was so important for Connie Chung to get him to admit on national TV that he had this affair,” Robinson said. “It was interesting to see how pressed she was to get him to spill his guts and how frustrated she got that he wasn’t going to say it.”
“Aphrodisiac” includes a brief but crucial appearance by Lewinsky.
“When you are talking about power, sex and violence, they are all so intrinsically linked in Washington,” said Mare Trevathan, who plays Clinton’s infamous intern. “Politics is still a man’s world, and in that context, the men who wield power become very attractive to women who in any other context wouldn’t give them a second glance. It’s not about finding a loving relationship – and these women become a liability at some point.”
Robinson equates the Washington playground to Disneyland.
“It’s not real,” he said. “These are guys who have behaved one way their whole lives, and then they get to Washington and the values are suddenly so different. So what is completely unacceptable in, say, rural California, is suddenly ‘the lifestyle’ in Washington.
“In time, these guys become separated from the reality of their own lives. They fly home to see their wives every other weekend, so they create – because they can – these situations where the power is wildly disproportionate between themselves and these young women. Until someone slips up, and suddenly his whole career is threatened. I think the risk is the aphrodisiac for some of these guys.”
“Aphrodisiac” is a complex dramatic comedy, the cast members said. Tonal shifts should have audiences laughing one minute and squirming the next. It is intended to make viewers consider our national obsession with celebrities and true-crime drama. It may make them re-evaluate what they think they know about public officials when information is filtered through a pop-culture, rather than a journalistic, lens.
“I was talking to my mother about this, and she has striking, harsh opinions about Monica Lewinsky,” Robinson said. “And I thought, ‘What makes any of us think we have any idea who this woman really is?”‘
Lewinsky not only has survived but thrived in her post-cigar life. But in the end, director Bonnie Metzgar’s thoughts return to Levy, whose family has not found justice in the five years since her skeletal remains were found in a park.
“In that way, this is a play about how violence against women continues to be in the shadows of our culture,” Metzgar said. “That’s even true under our brightest lights – which is Washington, where our national integrity is supposed to live. And yet, still, we have this currency of women who just go missing – and then we just forget about them.”
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
