There is an inherent peril when you write a play about real people, and the peril grows ever more threatening the more famous the people are.

That’s the dilemma facing "Five Presidents," the world premiere commissioned work by Rick Cleveland that’s getting a workout at the Milwaukee Rep. The politics of presidents is familiar ground for Cleveland who has won awards for his writing on shows like "The West Wing," "House of Cards" and "Six Feet Under."

He is a writer of unquestioned accomplishment, and the play he has put together here is, in many respects, the result of an incredible amount of research. Realizing that if you are going to write a play like this, the ring of truth better be loud and clear.

The story is the gathering of five presidents on the day of Richard Nixon’s funeral. The five presidents are Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, George Bush Sr., Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, the current occupant of the White House.

Gerald Ford is first in the room before the ceremony begins. He’s followed by Carter then Bush, then Reagan and finally Clinton.

Each appearance adds a layer for humor to this gathering of the most exclusive club in the world. Gradually each president is revealed. The difficulty I have is a credibility gap between what I think of these men, and what they show me in this play. 

Ford is funny and careless and defensive of his pardon of Nixon for the Watergate crimes. Carter is the gentle peacemaker, still traveling the world trying to make this a better place to live. Bush is full of maneuvers, fitting for the former head of the CIA. Reagan is the befuddled elder statesman, confused by his own confusion. And Clinton is the entitled child of the '60s, blissfully wandering through the most powerful office in the world.

If these sound familiar, it’s because they fit what we remember and what we think about each of these men. They were, like most leaders, defined by the events that surrounded them rather by their personalities.

Thus, it’s impossible to look at Carter without thinking of the Iranian hostage crisis for the incredible price of a gallon of gasoline. We think of Ford falling down steps and hitting spectators on the head with an errant golf shot, as well as that pardon.

This play has a little of the locker room about it. Just a bunch of regular guys underneath all the fancy garb spending a few moments in mutual recollection of the trials, tribulations and triumphs of being president.

That’s where the peril rears its head.

These are not just regular guys. These are special people with special jobs and special challenges.

This is a very very funny play. The laughs come easily, and they are prolonged. The humor is directed from one ex to another ex. The rest of the cohorts jump in to help the joke along.

The problem is that I don’t think this is the way ex presidents act. I don’t think they rub the scabs of old wounds until they are raw again. I don’t think they make fun of each other. I don’t even think they are passionately disagreeable about the actions of another president.

I have been in a room in my life with four governors at one time: two previous, one present and one about to be. The policy differences between these men could not have been more profound. There was virtually no small sliver of land upon which they could, or would, stand on together.

But there was something more at work in the room. Something far more powerful than anything any of them had done or would do. There was a shared sense of honor that they had been chosen to lead. What joined them together was so much more than what divided them that it didn’t even seem to be a contest.

This production is a spectacular one, with a marvelous set by Todd Edward Ivins and an incredible job of makeup from Lauren Wilde.

Mark Clements establishes a pace for this play that allows for the sharing of joys and the sympathy for the conflicts.

But it is best said by Ford, early in the play, when he talks to Carter.

"It’s a hell of a job being president," he said. "When you’re done, you’re not fit for anything else."