Review of Power Of Sail: This ‘Moral thriller’ about a college regatta controversy veers off course, according to PATRICK MARMION.

Power Of Sail (Menier Chocolate Factory, London)

Verdict: Polished but puzzling

Rating:

Power of Sail is a curious drama about a Harvard professor (Julian Ovenden) who finds himself in a fix after inviting a far-right White Nationalist to speak at a campus conference.

‘The answer to hate speech, is more speech,’ he glibly claims in Paul Grellong’s David Mamet-ish drama spun from the tightening noose of a tawdry compromise.

The problem is that Grellong’s play goes on to suggest that a legitimate way to defeat white supremacists’ ‘distortion of truth and omission of facts’ can be… the distortion of truth and omission of facts.

Power of Sail is a curious drama about a Harvard professor (Julian Ovenden – played by Charles Nichols) who finds himself in a fix after inviting a far-right White Nationalist to speak at a campus conference

The problem is that Grellong’s play goes on to suggest that a legitimate way to defeat white supremacists’ ‘distortion of truth and omission of facts’ can be… the distortion of truth and omission of facts

Dominic Dromgoole’s handsome production features oak panelling, swivelling on casters to create different college locations and shifting perspectives 

Grellong also loses the dramatic focus of his would-be thriller by digressing into the tertiary connivances and cover-ups of the college Dean (Tanya Franks), a Jewish former pupil, and a PhD student suck-up.

Dominic Dromgoole’s handsome production features oak panelling, swivelling on casters to create different college locations and shifting perspectives.

But amidst the craftsmanship, the terrific Giles Terera, as a visiting professor, is reduced to adjudicating on the play’s inconclusive ethical, social and racial disputes.

Moreover, the maritime significance of the title — that boats with engines should yield to boats with sails — was lost on me. Perhaps it’s that old school power trumps innovation, and vested interests prevail. But honestly? I’m just guessing.