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Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue
By Quiara Alegria Hudes
Directed by Lisa Portes
Produced by Rivendell Theatre Ensemble
& Teatro Vista
At Steppenwolf Garage Theatre
1624 N. Halsted
Chicago, IL
Call 312-335-1650, tickets $20 - $22
Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 Pm
Sundays at 3 PM
Running time is 80 minutes with no intermission
Through December 10, 2006
Personal war memory piece meanders
In a co-production between Rivendell Theatre Ensemble and Teatro Vista, Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue opened as part of Steppenwolf’s Visiting Company Initiative. I am puzzled why these two outstanding theatre companies selected such a poor play? Maybe Rivendell Theatre wanted to feature a play written by a woman? I’m sure Teatro Vista was interested in the play because it features a Puerto Rican family. Too bad Hudes’ play was so shallow after the promising premise: three generations from one family remembering their time at war in the Marine Corps.
The fugue was an interweaving of three stories---the grandfather’s Korean War---the father’s Viet Nam and the son, Elliot’s Iraq War. Add Ginny (Maighan Gerchis), the Viet Nam nurse who marries Elliot’s father and the four person play covers three generations who all share war experiences.
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Despite excellent work from Juan F. Villa as Elliot and from Edward F. Torres as Pops, the memory work unfolds as a series of disconnected narratives, speeches really, that were pointless explanations of trivial wartime experiences. The lack of cohesion together with the constant shifting from one era to another worked to confuse more than enlighten. The point of the play seems to be that soldiers aren’t able to nor want to communicate their war experiences to their families, especially to their sons. This isn’t anything new. My father never talked of his Marine Corp fighting on Iwa Jima during World War II and my friends from the Viet Nam era don’t talk about the war either. Hudes wants to urge war veterans to speak to their sons about their combat experiences. That isn’t likely to happen.
Her play pivots on Elliot, a 19 year old who she states must make up his mind if he’ll go back to Iraq with his unit. She never explains this and implies that he is still an active Marine. So he will go back to Iraq if ordered since he doesn’t have a choice. Nothing presented about Elliot indicates he’d desert, after all, he’s a Marine.
This non political work is filled with rambling speeches mostly about unimportant and much too personal events each soldier experienced during their tours. It indicates that the playwright has little knowledge of the military as she trivializes the horrors of the Korean and Viet Nam Wars. She has little insight and nothing new to offer about the tragic experiences of combat. Her narration of Elliot’s shooting of his first Iraqi was one of the few poignant moments during the 80 minute play.
The shallowness of the work that doesn’t contain dramatic tension, together with its confusing structure, made it a tedious piece that seems to drag on as a pointlessness boring work. There is no story, no conflict here and it begs the question: what is this about? It seems to say that fathers should tell their sons not to enlist in the Marines. Playwright Hudes believes that if sons knew what their fathers went through, they’d not join up. She simply doesn’t understand the machismo that many boys possess. Wars have always been fought by teenagers. Hudes doesn’t realize that the Marines are a valid option to help many teenagers mature into men. She seems to imply that the son and grandson shouldn’t have enlisted. In some families, military service is a tradition. Marines are a proud bunch and I believe that most Marines would find this play offensive. I know this Army National Guard guy did. I guess the anti-war; anti-military left wingers will find this work worthy.
Not Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: November 10, 2006
Jeff Recommended
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