Christopher McElroen has adapted and directed the upcoming staging of Debate – Baldwin vs Buckley – a stage dramatisation of the historic 1965 televised debate between intellectual heavyweights, James Baldwin and William F Buckley.
Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro? – This was the topic on February 18, 1965 when an overflowing crowd packed the Cambridge Union to bear witness to a televised debate between James Baldwin, the leading literary voice of the civil rights movement, and William F. Buckley Jr., a fierce critic of the movement and America’s most influential conservative intellectual.
Debate – Baldwin vs Buckley will open at Stone Nest on 15 March and runs until 8 April.
You’re bringing Debate – Baldwin vs Buckley to Stone Nest, what can you tell us about the show?
Debate is a verbatim staging of the historic 1965 televised debate between leading literary voice of the civil rights movement James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr, a fierce critic of the movement and America’s most influential conservative intellectual, which took place in the Cambridge University Union. The motion was ‘The American Dream is at the Expense of the American Negro’
Having worked on Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley since October 2020, I can say, with certainty, that it will be an exciting and engaging evening in the theatre. Our approach to the material, ripe with divergent political views on race, is to create an environment for 50 audience members a night to engage in an intimate exchange of art and ideas. A single row of chairs surrounds the performers; they speak directly to the audience, thus implicating them in the sins of our respective pasts and the responsibility we collectively share in addressing that legacy today.
What prompted you adapt this well-known debate into a stage production?
In 2020, I was eager to artistically participate in a historic moment in US history; the racial protests following the murder of George Floyd dominated the summer; the polarizing Presidential election filled the fall – both were during the pandemic when in-person audiences were not allowed, yet it felt necessary to gather and make art.
I turned to the historic 1965 Debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley. The debate addressed racial conflict, contained the lost art of civility in our public discourse, and was televised. So, on three consecutive nights in October 2020, my collaborators and I gathered as artists and recreated the debate for a live broadcast audience.
The experience was electric in the television studio and in the live-streamed comments made by thousands of viewers each night. When in-person audiences returned, curiosity took root. How might that electricity translate in a theatrical setting? We first presented the work at The Women’s National Republican Club in Manhattan, a home game for Buckley.
Next, we travelled to Brooklyn for one night at The Montauk Club. We quickly learned that an intimate setting, where the audience is not allowed to slide into the anonymity of the theatre, connected the material to the present in an electric fashion.
Building on what we learned, we presented a successful Off-Broadway run in NYC, which we are excited to follow with a run in the UK in the intimate setting of Stone Nest.
It was originally staged off-Broadway in 2020, how do you think things have changed since then and how do you think British audiences will react?
Since we first staged the piece in 2020, the lack of civility in our public discourse has only intensified. Further, there is an accompanying sense of discomfort, fear, and rage about the changing dynamics in society.
Narrow-minded tribalism in national and world politics and our daily lives undermines a cornerstone of a civilized society – claiming and caring for one’s identity, needs, and beliefs without degrading someone else’s.
On February 18, 1965 at Cambridge Union, James Baldwin called for a moral revolution in race relations. William F. Buckley was unabashed in his elitism and implicit commitment to the status quo. Both speakers expressed divergent views with decorum and civility. Both claimed their identity, their needs, and their beliefs while doing so without degrading each other in the process.
In their respective arguments, the rebuking of hatred and calling for restructuring social programs to further equity and equality is oddly the common ground shared by both Baldwin and Buckley.
In sharing a live staging of Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley with audience in the U.S. and the U.K., my hope is to highlight the common ground we share. And in doing so, encourage a civil dialogue about the things that unite us, rather than the contentious divide ever widening between us.
What’s the biggest challenge for you in directing this piece?
My greatest challenge in directing this piece has been to resist the urge to theatricalize the material. Earlier in my career, I might have succumbed to the desire to layer in technology, thus metaphorically killing a mosquito with a sledgehammer.
My approach with Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley has been to simply trust the material, its resonance, and the extreme talents of my collaborators, Teagle F. Bougere (Baldwin) and Eric T. Miller (Buckley).
Tell us a little about the cast you’ve brought over from New York?
Teagle and Eric are both long time collaborators.
Teagle and I first collaborated on the world premiere stage adaptation of Ralph Ellison’s iconic novel, Invisible Man.
Eric and I first worked together on the world premiere of Jaymes Jorsling’s (A)loft Modulation.
Over the years I have come to know both as exceptional individuals in all respects. They are natural storyteller with infectious energies. They both creates with a deep and personal sense of need, resulting in truthful and dynamic performances as Baldwin and Buckley.
Their performances are not to be missed.
What would you say to anyone thinking of booking to see Debate – Baldwin vs Buckley?
Book it. You won’t be disappointed. And if you are, it’s only 60 minutes long.
