Not In My Name! The Trial of Niccolo Machiavelli

Published Monday 13 August 2007 at 10:30 by Gerald Berkowitz

That what is commonly thought of as Machiavellian and what Machiavelli actually wrote are not the same thing is the core of Michael McEvoy’s solo performance piece. But that central idea is all but lost in a script that is cluttered with other material and other agendas.

In preparation for defending his name, McEvoy’s Machiavelli offers a resume of his life, which actually takes up most of the hour. His small place in the complex politics of 15th century Florence is really relevant only because it explains why he wrote The Prince (to score points with Lorenzo di Medici, who ironically never read it), but McEvoy goes into far more extraneous biographical detail than is needed. So when he gets to his main points, which are that he wasn’t advocating amoral and manipulative politics but merely reporting on what had worked for successful rulers in the past, and that those included such benign ideas as treating conquered peoples kindly, the brief explanation goes by almost unnoticed.

In the last ten minutes of the play Machiavelli, having fully grasped contemporary world affairs, goes into an extended and explicit attack against the United States for all its moral and political evils. While many in the audience may share McEvoy’s opinion, it has very little to do with what has come before.