I reviewed John Kani’s Nothing but the Truth
and the Builders Association’s Alladeen in today’s Wall Street Journal. About the first I had mixed feelings:
For playgoers who prefer politics to art, apartheid was a godsend. It inspired countless scripts that were black and white in every sense–you never had to ask who the bad guys were–and whose authors always threw in a last-act sermon to clear up any lingering doubts. Now that the good guys have won, though, it stands to reason that South Africa’s playwrights should finally have started working in shades of gray, and Lincoln Center Theater has proved the point by importing the Johannesburg production of John Kani’s “Nothing but the Truth,” an uneven but interesting new play that runs through Jan. 18 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater….
“Nothing but the Truth” is a kitchen-sink drama (literally–Sarah Roberts made sure to include one in her ultra-naturalistic set) whose characters are all citizens of Clich