Easy Targets

I'm getting really tired of going to the theatre and witnessing plays that take pot shots at the most obvious people. Tony Kushner's series of rambling, politically-slanted short plays currently playing at The Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Tiny Kushner, suffers tremendously from this problem.

Don't you think it's time we got over making fun of Richard Nixon and Barbara Bush, Tony?

Berkeley audiences lap this stuff up of course. But left-leaning, west coast theatre audiences need shaking up. They don't need to have their egos and feelings massaged. I'd like to see more theatre that challenges the audience's liberal ideals in an intelligent way. Tiny Kushner merely reasserts lazy thinking.

Pictured: Kate Eifrig as the ex First Lady in Berkeley Rep's production.