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NY Theater: "Third" is a typical Wendy Wasserstein funny, trendy satire

Dianne Wiest is smashing as leftwing professor – albeit the plot is flawed

By Lucy Komisar

Professor Laurie Jameson (Dianne Wiest) barely starts her opening class lecture before it's over the top with leftwing ideology. She declares that her classroom is "a hegemonic free zone." She announces a revisionist analysis of "King Lear," wherein Goneril and Regan (the daughters who sold out their father) were right. Lear was narcissistic. And Cordelia, the good girl who was devoted to her father, was "a wimp," an "obedient traditional victim." Shakespeare, she declares, "vilified girls with guts;" Goneril and Regan are giving Lear "what he deserves."

As a satire of literary revisionism, Wendy Wasserstein's play is extremely funny. Dianne Wiest is delightful and believable as Professor Jameson, with her blondish hair set off by large dangling earrings of the style that once denoted left politics. She is adept at the fast-paced delivery set by director Daniel Sullivan.

"Third" is the nickname of Jameson's student Woodson Bull III (the laid-back Jason Ritter), an alumnus of Groton who wants to be a sports agent. What could be worse in the eyes of a leftwing professor – a youth that bespeaks privilege and an ambition to make lots of money in a job that is socially useless? The small New England college is unnamed; it is probably modeled on Amherst, where Wasserstein spent her junior year. She attended Mt. Holyoke: talk about privilege!

She serves up plenty of contemporary political jokes, lots of laughs, timely shticks and names dropped. Professor Jameson listens to a TV report that declares Saddam's regime a clear and present danger. "What about our own regime?" she screams. She targets the poor Groton grad, "Are you a Republican?" He declares, "I'm pro-choice and I recycle." She accuses, "You're a walking Red state." Wiest's affectionate portrayal of the professor makes her an appealing figure, and the audience in Blue state New York takes the jibes as inside jokes.

The central plot is the weakest part of the play. Third writes a psycho-sexual interpretation of King Lear. His theory is that Lear assumes that if he strips Cordelia of her of dowry, her suitors will reject her and Lear will possess her. Wasserstein wants us to understand that this is just as legitimate or ridiculous as the other revisionist theories.

The student becomes the target for Jameson's anger at the establishment. She concludes that he must be a conservative and a jock, and therefore couldn't have the nontraditional view described in his analysis of Lear, much less write it in an essay she says is good enough to publish. The point is that in this case she has power and he doesn't. So, why is this liberal professor using her power to discriminate, thinking ill of a young man because she believes his parents conferred privilege on him? This is a story of power reversal, with the professor just as irresponsible as the powerful political figures she despises.

The problem is that the plot hangs on a charge of plagiarism for which she makes no attempt to provide proof. Wasserstein may want to show that liberals, like conservatives, can be guilty of making evidence-free assertions that destroy others. But, in the age of the Internet where a phrase search can pinpoint analyses of Lear that a student might find, this device is not believable. You want to say to her, "Research your charges!"

There are subplots about two people close to her, a colleague and friend Nancy Gordon (Amy Aquino) who has breast cancer, and her father (Charles Burning) who suffers from Alzheimers. Nancy, though preoccupied with her illness, takes time to help Third. And the Professor's concern about her father shows that she is a caring person – she just can't transfer that to political foes. But Wasserstein can't figure out what to do with these characters, and their stories become overly sentimental.

After the author throws in every obvious bit, including a session with her shrink to deal with free floating anxiety exacerbated by the war, the assertion of her daughter (Gary Hoffman) that "I've always thought the Christian Right must be secretly hot: there's no other explanation," and an expected reversal of fortunes for Third, there are still a lot of one-liners that keep the audience chuckling. Wasserstein writes very strong stand-up comedy.

"Third." Written by Wendy Wasserstein. Directed by Daniel Sullivan. Starring Dianne Wiest, Jason Ritter, Amy Aquino, Charles Durning, Gaby Hoffmann.

Mitzi Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, 165 W. 65 St. Tue-Sat 8pm; Wed, Sat 2pm; Sun 3pm. Through Dec. 18, 2005. $75. 212-239-6200. http://www.lct.org.

by Joan Marcus.

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