FROM the moment Inherit the Wind started, with the young Howard telling his schoolmate that her father was a monkey and asking a worm what it wants to be when it grows up, it was only too clear that this play was about the debate on evolution. And the message did not get any more ambiguous in a play that was at times heavy handed and at other times surprisingly subtle and humorous. It is 1925, and Hillsboro, Tennessee, is 'the buckle on the Bible belt'. A schoolteacher is jailed for teaching Darwinism as an alternative to blind acceptance of the Bible. The local people cannot understand why there is so much interest from the northern states in their country courtroom drama, with characters like Baltimore Herald correspondent E.K. Hornbeck (played with suitable cynicism by Mark Lipsey) arriving to deride them. After all, surely the teaching that they are descended from Old World monkeys ('not even good American monkeys') is offensive and ludicrous? In courtroom scenes that varied from the gripping to the downright slow, Sterling Brisbin gave a good performance as the laconic Chicago barrister Henry Drummond, opposing the local man M.H. Brady in a battle of wits that raised some interesting questions. After all, if Adam and Eve were the first couple, who was Mrs Caine? 'Think that [God] pulled off another creation in the next county?' John Haynes made a believable judge: perhaps hardly surprising as in real life he has been a barrister for 25 years. Michael Meyer was good as the preening, complacent Brady, although the moments of self-doubt and collapse were less convincing. With the exception of K.C. Conway who gave an enjoyable performance as Rachel Brown, the vicar's daughter, the play has a predominance of male roles. The decision to counterbalance that to some extent by putting women with huge droopy stage moustaches on to the (all-male) jury was a witty one, which worked well. The play could have done with a bit of speeding up - and some of the jokes were real groaners - but overall the American Community Theatre has come up with another enjoyable piece of entertainment for the Thanksgiving weekend. Inherit the Wind, American Community Theatre. Shouson Theatre, Arts Centre. November 24. Until tomorrow
