Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

Seth Rozin ©2025  Conan McCarthy and Peter Schmitz

A typical incandescent glow lights the realistic hotel room set of Lee Blessing’s new play, When We Go Upon the Sea, at 59E59 Theaters, presented by the InterAct Theatre Company. Swathed in neutral tones of beige and tan, rooms like this offer their visitors safe haven from the unsettling surroundings of a foreign land. This well-crafted production operates in a similar fashion, lulling its audience into a false sense of security with displays of the familiar. However, as this complex play of ideas enfolds, shadows descend upon the hotel room and we realize that the character standing in the foreground, George W. Bush, who we thought we knew so well suddenly, appears different, smaller, frail. Our relation to this figure has been tampered with.  An unsettling thought unfurls, what we think we know we might not even understand.

The play opens with a tense, foot-tapping W., played by Conan McCarty, standing with his taller, more relaxed counterpart, Piet, played with somber intelligence by Peter Schmitz, a Dutch bellhop/concierge there to make the former president comfortable on this eve before he goes to trial at The Hague for war crimes. It seems that Piet takes his job seriously and goes to great lengths to provide the shifty-eyed Texan with anything he desires, the first of which being whiskey, bourbon to be exact. McCarty begins his performance of Bush almost comically, with his glasses perched crookedly on his nose, his eyes almost crossed as he delivers idiotic Bushisms to the tittering delight of a liberal audience. This is the president we love to hate after all, and McCarty does not disappoint.

Piet listens coolly as Bush explains his reasons his paranoid extremism and responds with a slight smile and sympathetic nod. As the alcohol rises in W.’s blood, so do his confessionals about the dirty loneliness of rulership, his anxieties about being tried, and regrets about his family. The buffoonish exterior we know so well begins to unravel as McCarty reveals the man beneath the mask with controlled precision. Piet, with typical European aloofness, suggests that the assistance of a “relaxationist” may be in order. Despite his Christian-right morality, Bush agrees that he could use a “massage.” When the “relaxationist” appears wrapped in blue satin, the lights shift to an unearthly glow and she walks in as if on feathers. The “relaxationist,” played by Kim Carson with languid sensuality, brings with her a wave of mystery and suggestion that submerged intricacies beyond our comprehension entangle these three lives.

Blessing challenges his audience by crafting deceptively realistic dialogue that flows with ease while building complex theories on the nature of power and the effects of empire on the dark, impenetrable human psyche. As the play plunges deeper into the night, the cocaine emerges, and discussions of the Dutch masters mix with strange admissions of unexpected intentions.  As we watch a frayed, desperate W. recount the stark facts of his re-election as grounds for his defense, it is not as clear who really is on trial here.

 The production, under the direction of Paul Meshejian, employs subtlety and restraint to powerful effect. Lighting design by Thom Weaver helps to shape a dynamic range of moods from menacing, looming shadows to luminous warmth on Meghan Jones’ detailed and precise set. Effectively balanced, these designers at once convey confinement and a growing darkness that recedes into unseen corners. Strong performances from all three actors keep the lively dialogue engaging while they successfully communicate an obscured interiority that holds more secrets. When the play shifts its focus from Bush to the inscrutable devotion of these two unknown people to please the beleaguered leaders accused of war, questions arise about our own unspoken willingness to submit our power to an elite class that we expect to make decisions for us.  Blessing leaves us with more uncertainties than answers about our complicated relationship with our leaders, forcing us to leave the familiar surroundings of our condemnation of Bush on our way to somewhere else.