'The Trial of Jane Fonda' Park Theatre ***

Jane Fonda is internationally renowned for her acting work and her 1980’s fitness videos, then again, to some American’s she is known negatively for her controversial viewpoints that opposed against the Vietnam War and many of those who fought in the war were obviously not impressed by them. The Park Theatre’s production of, ‘Terry Jastrow’s play, ‘The Trial of Jane Fonda’ was a pretty daring endeavour to suggest that veterans were wrongly talked into a war that was unnecessary, furthermore, the representations were particularly effective.

‘The Trial of Jane Fonda’ is set in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1988 where we are enriched with the actress, Jane Fonda who is meeting a number of Vietnam vets who are striving to prevent her latest film project, ‘Stanley and Iris’ from being filmed in their area. The meeting is held in the church hall where Reverend John Clarke is coordinating the discussion where five other men, Buzzy Banks, Joe Cellano II, Larry Bank (Alex Gaumond), Reggie Wells (Ako Mitchell) and Tommy Lee Cook (Mark Rose) are reluctantly sat there where they’re demanding answers from Jane as to why she deceived her nation and the armed forces. Throughout the course of the performance, we see that the former soldiers are verbally aggressive towards Jane, specifically from Buzzy and Joe as they feel that she has betrayed the thousands of American servicemen who had died in the war. However, Jane makes it clear that the president at the time, President Nixon lied to the people of the United States of America as he has been plotting to bomb Vietnam’s lifeline of dykes which would ultimately make them completely unable to strengthen themselves. As such; she makes it clear that a gargantuan amount of innocent men, women and children perished in this unjust war. There is so much conflict that arises from Jane and the men and their actions towards her are rather inappropriate and deplorable where they deface some of the memorabilia that features Jane Fonda’s face on it such as a toilet seat and a poster from a previous film of hers. Over the duration of the war, we learn that Jane stopped working as an actress so that she could fully concentrate on her campaigns against the Vietnam War in which she gathered support from university students and to the hippies, and from her conversations she begins to obtain a microscopic level of respect from the ex-soldiers and it appears that Reverend John Clarke has a lot to thank Jane Fonda for as he found a new path which is to follow the work of the Lord God. You can visualise how barbaric the Vietnam War from both sides as we are informed that Reggie was left paralysed from a bomb that was left from a Vietnamese child so we can see why they are not happy with Jane’s support to the Vietnamese people. There’s a moment when Jane explains that she was manipulated by army officials where she was pictured sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun where she was belly laughing which was to convey that she did support Nixon’s decision to bomb the country of Vietnam. At the finale, Jane and the soldiers appear to have settled their differences and in actual fact some of those who supported their place in the war soon change their opinion and when Jane walks out of the church hall, her filmic location is given the greenlight.  Jastrow’s narrative is definitely an informative piece of artistry on an actress who campaigned against Nixon and the Vietnam War and how war veterans challenged her in quite an uncomfortable manner, yet there are some sticky and stilted moments that made the plot a little less cohesive.

One found the performances by the company of, ‘The Trial of Jane Fonda’ to be accurately appealing as they encapsulated the awkward reality of Jane Fonda’s disapproval of the Vietnam War, in addition there is a great balance of tension that exacerbates through the ex-soldiers. Anne Archer is fascinating as the lead protagonist, Jane Fonda; essentially how awesome and factual she looks as the actress and the build up to how she was manipulated by the American Army, also there are places with the veterans where she comes across as the victim rather than the bull. Martin Fisher is likable as Reverend John Clarke; generally where we see that he in fact presents a more calm and collected individual who has more reverence for Jane Fonda than his place in the war as she enabled him to follow his path now, also I liked when he kicked the soldiers out for their disgusting actions. Paul Herzberg is suitable as the brash, Joe Cellano II; exclusively at the moments where he finds it testing that he is being forced to re-examine whether the Vietnam War was a good thing, then again, I found that the he came across quite frighteningly by his treatment towards Jane Fonda which could signify a little bit of male chauvinism and a small element of domestic harm. Christien Anholt is impressive as Buzzy Banks; primarily where we see that how conflicting he is and with Jane Fonda’s presence in the church hall makes him somewhat shudders and squirm as with all the other men, he has an obvious problem that the woman was correct and their President was in the wrong.

Joe Harmston’s direction is pleasant to a point here as he has tried to depict to us that the legendary actress that is, Jane Fonda proposed to testify against a war that obliterated American soldiers and Vietnamese civilians and this comes across due to the increased rigidity from the vets and Jane herself, but there could have been more tightness in the actual flow, yet it is a fine effort. Sean Cavanagh’s set design and Roberto Surace’s costume design are smart as the set consisted of a backdrop of the American flag and with Louise Rhoades-Brown’s video projection design that features footage of speeches from Nixon and the war it helps us understand the conflict a lot more. Overall, the experience of, ‘The Trial of Jane Fonda’ was a somewhat enchanting story which Jane Fonda was apprehensive about having a moment in her life being made into a play, but it was good to see how Nixon was a scheming man who did not care about the impending chaos.