Following the success of his OffWestEnd nominated play, Kunstler, Joseph Jefferson Award winning playwright Jeffrey Sweet’s The Value of Names will have its UK premiere this February 2025. A Youngish Perspective runs the dialogue with Jeremy Kareken, who will be playing Norma’s father, Benny.
You are playing Benny in the UK premiere of Jeffrey Sweet’s The Value of Names. Please can you tell us more about the show?
I’m going to talk about the play in terms of my character, because I’m one of those guys. Everyone else sees the play from their perspective but I’m going to talk about mine. The Value of Names is the story of an actor, his daughter, and his former friend and director. Back in our younger days we were idealists, communists, or at least communist adjacent. And then, when the House Unamerican Activities Committee asks the director to name names, that SOB goes and names mine. We haven’t talked since. Now my daughter is doing a play with him, and he comes sniffing around my house to see if there’s any room in my heart for forgiveness. I am not pleased. My daughter is in the middle. As for what happens, you’ll have to see the play.
How did you first get into acting?
How did I first get into acting? I’m not sure I did. I got into theatre. I always loved writing, acting, directing, whatever it was to be involved in this weird circus. I did plays in middle school, I wrote on in high school, I was in a comedy group at Uni, and I’d do whatever I could to get a show up that I loved. In the US, I’m mainly a playwright, and had a show on Broadway that starred Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones, and Bobby Cannavale. I worked in television for about 20 years as the researcher on Inside the Actors Studio, so I’ve always been a part of the circus.
What are Benny’s core motivations throughout the play? What is it like balancing the comedy of Jeffrey Sweet’s character, alongside the trauma caused by Benny’s history with Leo?
I’m going to answer the questions about comedy and identity together, because I think they’re terribly bound together. The character is Jewish. My mother was Jewish. I am Jewish. Comedy is how we deal with trauma. If there’s pain, we laugh through it and at it. My character is loosely based on the actor Zero Mostel, and I can’t imagine a better example of pain as comedy than one movie he starred in, the Producers. What kind of weirdos would memorialize the Shoah with a bad taste musical? We would. Even the Holocaust and the ensuing intergenerational trauma is part of the comedy. Shakespeare got it wrong, and I can fix the Bard with a small edit: “If you prick us, do we not laugh?”
How do you approach preparing for a role like Benny?
How do I approach preparing for a part like Benny? Mainly biting my nails in abject terror. I’ve never been given this many lines before. And I’m getting old. So I study. As much as possible. And then I think of how much I’m like the character, and where I need to do some work to get there. I’m a joker, so that fits. I don’t really keep grudges, so I have to find the part of me that does.
What do you think the play says about identity, reputation, and the choices we make in life? How does Benny embody these themes?
I don’t like to talk about the themes of the play because that’s the job of the playwright somewhat, and the job of the audience most of all. To me, the character, this is about people who steal my name or throw it away, the fight inside of me between the capacity to forgive and love versus the need for justice or revenge. This is about what is owed to me, from the people who say they love me.
Why should people come along to watch The Value of Names?
You should come to the Value of Names to be entertained by two angry and funny old men, and the miserable, but also funny, young woman who’s caught in the middle. You should come to see what it was like the last time political arguments led people to throw each other out of their lives. You should come to see how three Jews yell at each other when no one is looking. You can see the Value of Names from 11 Feb to 1 March at the White Bear Theatre in Kennington.
The Value of Names is at The White Bear Theatre Tuesday 11th February – Saturday 1st March 2025
Saw it. Loved it. The writing! Conversation centric. Poignant, hilarious, not preachy. It’s a conversation. There’s that moment we realize that everyone is more-or-less right though they essentially don’t agree on anything. And the cultural almost Socratic rift of answering a question with a question. skillfully deployed. Expertly delivered – perfectly cast. Historically relevant and moving — and so very funny. Brilliant piece of theatre. Fun night out.