Word: hums
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Talented acting by the entire cast gives depth and nuances to the one-note characters. Especially commendable is Richard Nash, who plays both Senator Hum and scientist Harry Stranger. The plot is full of odd digressions, but its basic theme is Stranger's efforts to finance his time machine and use it for the benefit of humanity...
Stranger and his friends turn away these purveyors of tainted loot and repeat their determination to seek government support. Yet given the corrupt character of Senator Hum, one wonders why money conferred by him is any less rotten. This question is never addressed...
...Hum is the classic good ol' boy who oppresses his wife, sexually harasses his secretary ("There are laws about safety in the workplace and you just ignore 'em with those hazardous things o' yours, Miss Undertow"), and makes speeches about the "brown tide of wetbacks" encroaching on "this great white nation...
...same might be said of many features of The Bathtub. The set is structured like a modern art gallery, and the audience has to walk through it to reach the stage. While some of the art objects are used to satirical effect--Senator Hum poses under Jasper Johns' "Three Flags" for a patriotic-looking photo--others seem intriguing but extraneous. There seems to be little function for a polyurethane foam "Iava" trail that leads from the audience to the side wall of the stage...
This cross-casting is intended to criticize race and gender stereotypes in contrast to Hum's prejudices. But in a genre that depends on the substitution of archetypes for complex characters, this attack seems singularly out of place...