Benjamin Franklin, Printer, Etc.

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Bardette Parks’ Benjamin Franklin, Printer, Etc., playing at The Avenue Theatre through the middle of April, leaves much to be desired: concise direction, interesting and exciting well-written material, and a well defined characterization with a voice rising above a monotone.

Bardette Parks as Bejamin Franklin in Benjamin Franklin, Printer, Etc. now showing at the Avenue Theater.

Publicity promises a witty, irreverent, wise, and naughty presentation, of which very little is present. Most of the material covered provides nothing new with any insight into this most complicated man who definitely was a man of his time. With a couple of exceptions, most of the material covered is equivalent to junior high material.Indications of humor pop up every one in a while, but lose laughability through the presentation.

Lectures before and after any production indicates the audience isn’t to be trusted to know anything. To maintain attention throughout the show, I kept waiting to hear something I didn’t know. It never happened.

If narration before and after screams important, it would be far more effective to have it come from backstage over a microphone. Having Parks come out in costume, speaking as an actor, attempting to transform into the character becomes an immediate distraction. Except for turning his back, putting on Franklin’s spectacles along with a leather apron, changing his voice and walk only slightly, the transformation did nothing but show an actor in costume, wearing spectacles, tying on an apron.

The set initially becomes the most interesting aspect sporting a replica of Franklin’s printing press. However, three of the tables are covered with cloth. I visited several print shops where typesetters worked by hand. Print shops are messy, always, with ink everywhere. No one would ever think to cover any table with a piece of cloth.

Franklin treats the audience as though a group of people wandered into his shop. It’s a very busy day he says and can’t stop to chat, then proceeds to ramble aimlessly from one subject to another in a dry monotone, while he periodically sets type by hand. Of course, no one knows what Franklin sounded like. He could well have spoken in a monotone with a lisp even, although with his public service life, probably not. We do know he had a sharp mind with an intense curiosity that carried him beyond printing into the realms of science, and philosophy, catapulting him into numerous inventions, thrusting him into public service as a Diplomat. Highly intelligent, yes, he was a womanizer, cultivated a delicious sense of humor, and at one time, of course, owned slaves.

But who was this man? What made him tick? What drove his humor? Nearly every grade school child knows what he did. What were his disappointments? What did he agonize over? How did he feel when his child died? When his wife died? How did that affect and change him, or did it? What frustrated him, and when he was frustrated how did he react?

So he thought France was the most civilized nation in the world at that time, but why did he think that? What was it about the people he thought so endearing, aside from the women no matter what the age?

Theatre doesn’t tell us anything. It shows us, and this production, unfortunately, doesn’t show anything. If the audience is indeed a group of people who just happen to amble into his shop, there certainly is little reason to stay.

If one really wants to celebrate Franklin’s 301st Birthday, The Museum of Nature and Science currently features a detailed exhibit that can’t help but intrigue, enlighten, tickle the brain, and create curiosity. Benjamin Franklin, Printer, Etc. wants to do that, but doesn’t come close.