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Volume CXXXII, Number 21 |
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In the heart of Wish Theater
HANNAH DEAN
STAFF WRITER
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| On a simple set in Wish Theater, students from last weekend's play, In the Heart of America, gave captivating performances. The play was written by Naomi Wallace and is a portrayal of the Gulf War. (Hans Law, Bowdoin Orient) |
Place: a motel room, a military camp in Saudi Arabia, another room, the Iraqi desert. Time: Future, past, and, most importantly, present. In the Heart of America, by Naomi Wallace, is a play that may be set in certain times and at certain places, but its messages and themes stretch across the barriers of both. Wallace's explorations of violence, the nature of man, and the definition of love all reach a worldly level that undercuts historical or descriptive constraints.
In the Heart of America was performed at Bowdoin last weekend. The cast of players was small and intimate and the seating arrangement in Wish, the experimental black box theater, gave the audience a sense of involvement in the story unfolding on stage. The floor was painted in colors meant to mimic sand, and white drapery hung overhead that paralleled the layering of time employed within the plot. Otherwise, the set was basic and plain, leaving room for the actors' imaginations to contribute and build upon the performers' surroundings.
The content of the play, however, left nothing to the imagination. Instead, the actors seemed to spit in the face of the illusions of political correctness. Part of the process of the play was imposing discomfort on an audience that might have too easily been lulled into a sense of security. The psychologically-disturbing still content achieved nauseating proportions.
The imaginary deserts painted on the stage easily translated into the many images that had been broadcast over the past few weeks of war-torn Iraq. The acts of physical and psychological violence played out on stage drove the audience to the very core of the difficulties of human frailty that we presently face.
Overall, the play seemed to broadcast that "the past is never over," "what's done is often…done again," and "every day it's any day now." From the discrimination against a pair of gay lovers, to discrimination against Arabs in America, the play highlights the prospect that fear and hatred may always surround such issues. Ultimately, if this alienation is fed and nurtured, whether it is nursed in the dark recesses of the mind or on the playgrounds of public schools, it will ultimately lead to acts of horror and violence that defy the reason and dignity of humankind.
Naomi Wallace was born in Prospect, Kentucky and her work has been produced both in the United States and Great Britain. Her first play, The War Boys, was produced by the Finborough Theatre and was nominated for Best First Play by the London Finge Awards. In the Heart of America was first produced in London by the Bush Theatre. It was then produced by the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven and was recently published in the March issue of American Theatre. It was awarded the 1995 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her recent play One Flea Spare takes place in London during the Great Plauge of 1665. It was commissioned by the Bush Theater and performed there in October and November of 1995, which included an extended run following its success.
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