On the Conditions and Possibilities of Hillary Clinton Taking Me as Her Young Lover

Arthur Meek in a scene from Richard Meros’ “On the Conditions and Possibilities of Hillary Clinton Taking Me as Her Young Lover” (Photo credit: Goldthorpe Creative)

[avatar user=”Caleb Ryan” size=”96″ align=”left”] Caleb Ryan[/avatar] The allegations that brought on the fiasco of President Bill Clinton’s scandal with Monica Levinsky will forever be ingrained in the minds of America’s citizens. The investigation that itself was under investigation and spun a tangled web of cover-ups and deceit will overshadow Clinton’s career as we look back in history. Surely then, it is a preposterous suggestion that Hillary Clinton follow suit and take on a young lover. How does the bright-eyed Arthur Meek, in his performance of the Geoff Pinfield-Meek adaptation of Richard Meros’ same titled book, then get off spouting wise remarks on his candidacy to make a cuckold of President Clinton?

Well, if you disregard the American sensibility for political correctness, or indeed any disposition you have to think of the President as an untouchable, then this whimsical Nuclear PowerPoint presentation morphs into an enlightened and intelligent argument for just that. He sets out with what he calls the “Gettysburg Address of the New American Revolution” to prove that not only does Hillary need a young lover, she wants one, portraying having a young lover as the “contemporary form of human consumption (cannibalism) that persists in the hunger for younger bodies.”

Meek displays the exact youthful bravado that you expect of such a candidate, along with the dashingly handsome yet woefully overqualified and underemployed requirements you learn it takes for the task. The script itself delights, while making this Kiwi expatriate reminisce, with the comic genius and satirical enlightenment beloved of New Zealand comedy acts.

As Meek details Hillary Clinton’s need for a young lover to thrust her into power in the 2016 Presidential Election, you become glad of the dangerous lines he teases around. With a dignified insensitivity, Meros’ script satires political and ongoing national issues, going so far as to relate the endearing Hillary with a “cheeky semi-legal orchard worker” and “a forty-foot oasis in a desert of young flesh. Clothed, proper, dignified, wise, knowing, and ready.” It is a riot. Not to mention, Meek is clearly well endowed with some of the most proficient PowerPoint skills to belittle the vanity of worldwide high school teachers, let alone putting to shame past Presidential candidate Al Gore.

On the Conditions and Possibilities of Hillary Clinton Taking Me as Her Young Lover directed by Geoff Pinfield is running at La MaMa E.T.C. in downtown New York as part of the New Zealand New Performance Festival. This will run all month long featuring award-winning performances from around New Zealand including For Your Future Guidance, the runner-up at the Auckland Fringe Festival, and All Your Wants and Need Fulfilled Forever, nominated for five of the Chapman Tripp Wellington Theatre Awards. For more information on running schedules and tickets go to http://www.nznewperformance.com/.

Whether or not I am convinced that Hillary Clinton needs to take a lover, and indeed how confident I am in Meek’s sexual aptitude for the task, the presentation was a great success triggering booming laughter thanks to a wit wholly unaccounted for in this age in America, a repartee most welcome to this writer. 

On the Conditions and Possibilities of Hillary Clinton Taking Me as her Young Lover (through March 15, other works in festival through March 29, 2015)

New Zealand New Performance Festival

La MaMa E.T.C., First Floor Theater, 66 E. 4^th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, call 630-430-5374 or visit http://www.lamama.org/new-zealand-performance-festival-new-york/

Running time: one hour without an intermission