BETTER RED IN BED
Better Red in Bed’s publicity calls it “a look at the cold war in Chicago that’s black and white and Red all over,” and sure enough two of the major targets of the play’s satire are Marxists and investigative journalists. One of them, Jo Snide (“You’ve seen my column, ‘Snide Lines,’ every day on page two of the Daily Grind”), tells us in an expository speech that the play also contains “all the elements that make a drama compelling . . . attempted murder, conspiracy, love interest, corrupt politicians, pimps, prostitutes, gangsters, mistaken identities, and of course the exposition of one acute psychological disorder.”
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That’s a lot of story line to fit into less than two hours, but Better Red in Bed does it. The plot revolves around two identical twin brothers–Harry O’Leary, the mayor of Chicago, and Larry O’Leary, the alderman of an unidentified ward. When leftist Larry decides to run for mayor against his brother, right-wing Harry declares his sibling is a communist who must be eliminated from the race to protect the family name. With the aid of his loyal but unscrupulous son, Lackey O’Leary, he concocts a plan to involve Larry in a sex scandal. Lackey’s girlfriend, Karla, is to pretend to be a prostitute and lure Larry to her studio, where they are to be discovered–uh, red-handed–by none other than Snide herself. Hot on their trail and determined to foil their scheme, however, is Larry’s own loyal and unscrupulous son Leon T. O’Leary (whose mysterious middle initial is the basis for yet another plot complication).
The endurance award goes to newcomer Marty Brandenburg, who gives a nice chameleonlike performance as the put-upon Property Person. The program credits don’t make clear who’s responsible for the relentlessly black, white, and red sets and costumes, but commendations are in order for a visual motif that is almost as funny as the verbal and physical action it accompanies.
