Nelso n led to them wo rking o n Principiae Scriptorae a t the Ba rbican Pit in 1986. Since the n , mos t o f hi s plays h ave hee n premiered by rhe RSC. rarhe r rhan in hi s narive Ame ri ca, a reflecrion perhaps of the facr rhar rhey a re frequendy, if n o r spec ifi ca lly, ami-America n (or ar leasr wrinen in a style which Bro adw"y n o lo nge r seems ro love , rhar of rhe hi ghl y academic sar iri sr). Nelson is a lso ohsessed wirh rhe n arure of ex il e, rhe far e whi c h finally overta kes Be nedicr Arno ld as Th e General From America , wh o ends up living in po ve rty in Lo ndo n as a resulr of his principled treachery: 'I' ve a lways bee n ime resred in people who a re alVay from h ome , or in ex ile, o r jusr o ur of th e ir place and rim e: it's so me rhing I've pursued in play afte r play, some rhing I consider nor jusr a person a l o bsessio n bur rhe obsessio n of rhe whll le rwemierh cemury. I've ne ver been a documemary wrirer, bur I a m inre resred in hiswri ca l accide m s, and certainly Benedicr Arno ld was o ne o f rh ose - rhe world only kn o ws him n ow as a rra iror bur he was a grear dea l mo re complex a figure rha n such in sr8 nt definirio n mighr suggesr'. In fact, The General From Am erica, like Co lumhus, sers up a man mo re sinned against rha n sinn in g, \\,hl) like Anto n y o r Corio lanu s is doomed co do rhe wrong thi n g fo r all rhe ri ghr re<lsons. A ro und him a re ra nged his chilly fam ily, George Wa sh ingron ('who rhe hell wa n rs a city n amed a fre r the m I') an d a wonde rfull y gay, young ga llo ping maj o r (Adam Godl ey ) wh ose caprure is ulrimate ly rh e ca use of Arnold' s undo ing.
The General From America is a ho ur the pir\' " f \\'ar, bur ir is a lso a masterly accou m o f h ow hi srory co mes r,) be sul'\'e ned by rea l peo ple wirh individua l age ndas w pursue ; in thar se nse ir is class ic Nelson , wirh a classic Nelson w uc h; rhe only characrer in the pl ay w face dearh fairly and squarely is a gay, fru srrared a mate ur aC((lr. Nelson is n or a ng lo phile en ough yer
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ma ke hi s pe rm anem h o me
here; he is still an Ameri ca n firsr a nd lase. th"ugh like Arthur Miller he recognises rha r his chances o f producclon in maj or pl ay ho uses have always been be tte r o n this side of rhe pond. Nor is h e inclined w reach an y gli b conclusions about the differences ber\\'een Brirish and American acrors o r d irec rors; wary of attending roo many rehe arsa ls, a ll he will ad mit is rhar eve ry direcror \\'orks differently, and rh ar eac h time a Londo n play o f his is produced in .A merica, he no rices differem moods end emphases e me rging from his rext; 'bur rhen you'd pro bably ger all those differences in prod ucrio n s, say, at Greenwich and SrTarfo rd of the same pl ay.' The truth is rh at Nelson \Hires for transadamic trave llers; few in his usua ll y upmarket aud iences ca n have fai led to n o t ice so me differences between Br itain 8nd America, and wha t Nelson then does is to explo re those differences, sometimes celebrating them a nd o fre n prodding at them as at an open wound. As his oc her So vier a nd Ce ntral European setti ngs would also sugges r, Nelso n lives as a playwrighr on rhe borders of politica l, soc ia l and geographical ch a nge; like a wa r anist, he is up at the frontier, recording mo me nts of transiti on as well as rhe hisrorical and po lirical imperatives which co ndi tion rh ose mo ments. In that se nse , it is no t roo grea t a cla im to sugges r that his characters are oft e n C hek hov ian in their awareness of a Iosr past a nd a deeply uncertai n future. Fo r my mo n ey he's the t he perfect millennium cha ngeover dra ma tist, eyes fi xed o n th e nea r future and hea rt buried somewhe re in the recem past; [ a lso can n ot say too o fren that, just bec ause he doesn 't deal in the jugular o r the vern acul a r, just because h e isn't Mamet or Shepard o r o n his way co Ta rantino, doesn'r necessa ril y mean rh at Richard N e lson is no t o n e of [he great American pl aywrighrs o f rhe cenrury. Lt' s JUSt tha t, to hi s o wn delight , he remain s a little unfashio nable. â&#x20AC;˘