Bully: An Adventure With Teddy Roosevelt is a tour de force for actor Neil Thackaberry, who sweeps the audience along through this historic figure’s adventures in a one-man show at Actors’ Summit.
From his opening moments dramatizing one of Roosevelt’s vigorous walking expeditions, to his enactment of Roosevelt’s twilight years as the former president dreams of his former military prowess, Thackaberry creates rich insight into Roosevelt’s dramatic life.
Thackaberry’s booming voice embodies Roosevelt’s renowned boldness and exuberance. And with the help of a toupee, long mustache and glasses, the actor creates a believable physical likeness to the robust 26th president of the United States, who served from 1901 to 1909.
Roosevelt was a rough-and-tumble sort of guy, but he could also quote Shakespeare and Goethe. He was Harvard-educated, yet he never felt he fit in with the genteel scholars there.
Jerome Alden’s 1977 script has a heavy share of political stories, but it rarely gets bogged down. Chief among the political conflicts is Roosevelt’s description of his failed attempt to wrest the Republican nomination from incumbent William Howard Taft in 1912.
Much of that action takes place on the campaign trail, with Thackaberry delivering speeches from a railing that symbolizes a train.
Rory Wohl’s handsome set is dominated by rich wood panels, a leather chair, desk and large portrait of Roosevelt at center stage, nicely lit by Kevin Rutan. Wohl researched Roosevelt’s study at his beloved Sagamore Hill home on Long Island, a National Historic Site, to re-create the gracious space.
In Bully, Thackaberry’s most soul-stirring moment comes when his Roosevelt describes the death of his young wife, Alice, two days after giving birth to their daughter. In describing this tragedy on Valentine’s Day 1884, playwright Jerome Alden used the only words from his diary that day: “The light has gone out of my life.”
In another high point, Thackaberry personifies a heartbroken Roosevelt who, dressed in his signature Rough Riders uniform, is turned down by President Woodrow Wilson to lead the volunteer regiment in World War I. This painful scene is followed by a flashback to Roosevelt’s glory days in the Spanish-American War.
One-man shows depicting historical figures are a specialty in Thackaberry’s repertoire: Over the years he has also portrayed John Brown and Clarence Darrow.
Roosevelt was a tough guy whose adventures led him from living as a cowboy in North Dakota to exploring the Brazilian jungle. Yet he was also known to play hide and seek and have pillow fights in the White House with his four sons.
Through Bully, we learn that his contributions to today’s pop culture in America include the teddy bear, the plush toy created and named after Roosevelt after it was reported he wouldn’t kill a bear cub during a hunting trip. Roosevelt, who lived from 1858 to 1919, also left us with the famous foreign policy slogan “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”
At Actors’ Summit, each performance is followed by illuminating talks with Roosevelt scholar Mark Dawidziak. He stresses in the program notes that Roosevelt was a study in contradictions: a warmonger and Nobel Peace Prize winner; a big game hunter yet an avid conservationist.
Alden’s script draws forth these contradictions without hitting audience members over the head.
Roosevelt’s life was so vivid in his mere 60 years that Bully is full of satisfyingly dramatic moments. Thanks to Thackaberry, the rich history of a man who came to be known as one of America’s greatest presidents comes alive on stage.
Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.
