Review: Robert Schenkkan's BUILDING THE WALL Envisions The Future of Trump's Presidency

By necessity, Robert Schenkkan's tense and frightening political drama, Building the Wall, had to be a rush job written with the understanding that national events could sap it of its impact at any moment.

Developing a plot inspired from campaign promises delivered by candidate Donald Trump, the Pulitzer and Tony winner began work on his two-person, 90-minute piece in October, and it arrives at New World Stages still very relevant.

The premise and storytelling structure is familiar. An inmate at a high-security prison is asked by an interviewer to tell the full story of his crime. Bit by bit, the audience learns pieces of information that lead to a horrifying conclusion.

This time it takes place in 2019 El Paso, Texas and the reason Rick (James Badge Dale) wears an orange inmate's jumpsuit has a lot to do with how he accepted the message behind Donald Trump's candidacy and acted upon it during his presidency.

Rick's attraction to Trump began because he was entertained by watching how seasoned politicians seeking the Republican candidacy couldn't figure out how to counter his off-the-cuff outspokenness.

"The way he would put down those stuffed shirts and leave them standing there in a little flop sweat pool of their canned bullshit. It was funny."

And while pundits were rolling their eyes at the promise of building a southern border wall to keep out immigrants and making Mexico pay for it, Rick never took his words literally.

"It wasn't a real wall, a brick and mortar wall. That wasn't what he was talking about. What is a wall? It's a, a barrier, a device, for keeping people out."

To reveal the details of Rick's story would betray the playwright's intention, but it involves President Trump's reaction to a terrorist act and how Rick, as warden of a private prison, became instrumental in carrying out actions to rid American borders of anyone who could be in the country illegally.

Loose and lanky, with a mischievous smile, Dale makes Rick a riveting figure; a punk who somehow came into power under the right circumstances.

Tamara Tunie is calm and observant as Gloria, the college history professor trying to get the full story, and perhaps land a book deal in the process.

While there are still substantial numbers who support the actions of the 45th president, there are also a great deal who watch and read the news every day trying to figure out how this all happened.

As observed in Building the Wall, sometimes it happens because there are enough people who think it's funny when stuffed shirts are left standing in their flop sweat.

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