Which matters more, family or ideas? That’s the core of Anthony Giardina’s “The City of Conversation” in which ideas, or ideologies, win out, as the arts of conversation and compromise lose ground in D.C. party hostess Hester Ferris’s family and politics in the Capitol. Over the course of the three decades this play is set in, a kind of perverse hardening of the feminist trope that the personal is political was in the ascendency. Of course most politics have always been personal and vice-a-versa, but things have gotten to the point where some will not give an inch when it comes to promoting and entrenching their personal view of the world. Ensemble Theatre Company’s sparkling new production has a spot on cast, a beautiful and detailed set and great direction by Cameron Watson. Now playing through February 25th at the New Vic Theatre. Go see it!
