The Report of My Death

Written and Directed by Adam Klasfeld

Lilac Steamship

Pier 40 near Houston on the Hudson River

212-352-3101

 

Review by Julie Leung

 

Ghost Writer: Michael Graves brings Mark Twain back to life in The Report of My Death.

 

The American psyche remembers Mark Twain as its quintessential humorist — the curmudgeonly wit behind the homegrown classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Taught in every high school and endlessly quoted, Twain has mostly been written off as a nostalgic icon of 1800s Americana, but that is not the Mark Twain writer-director Adam Klasfeld wants you to meet.

 

In Klasfeld’s one-man docudrama, The Report of My Death, the mustachioed author speaks to us from beyond the grave, reflecting on and reenacting his later life, from failed business ventures to his worldwide lecture tour. With 90 percent of the script lifted venerably from rare and previously censored letters, journal entries and essays, Report presents a much darker and troubled Mark Twain, one whose subversive sentiments liken him to another American radical, poet Ezra Pound. Subsequently, one might say this is not the story of Mark Twain but of Samuel Clemens — the man behind the celebrated nom de plume.

 

Staged aboard the steamship Lilac, the play simply lets the humid open-air environs establish mood — a genius, albeit slightly gimmicky, touch. Other than the occasional anachronistic interruption of various party boats and planes, the hazy evening provides a fitting backdrop as actor Michael Graves descends from an upper deck in the opening scene — a worthy doppelganger of Clemens with an all-white suit to boot. Graves’s performance is full-bodied and engaging. His voice strikes appropriate compromise between Scrooge-like crankiness and snarky bemusement.

 

Altogether an illuminating character study, The Report of My Death is a rich exploration of one of America’s most celebrated minds, portrayed as one of its harshest critics. Klasfeld does not shy away from a searing political finish as Graves ends the hour-and-a-half affair by uproariously singing a satire of  “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” penned by Twain in1901. At its most profound moments, Report resonates with ideological implications that echo issues quite relevant in today’s political sphere. At its very least, it’s a decent historical reenactment.