|
Review
Aftermath
New York Theatre Workshop
October 2, 2009
Morgan Wycks
mwycks@nyconstage.org
In the talk-back after Aftermath presented by the New York Theatre Workshop, the gentleman sitting behind me wondered if anyone felt that halfway through the piece enough was enough. He wondered why this wasn't simply a filmed documentary (still using actors to protect the real people) and why shouldn't we be seeing something of drama on stage other than what amounted to staged readings. No one agreed with him, perhaps for fear that they might get a stoning. I silently took his side. What do we ultimately learn after watching a very talented ensemble of actors put forth the tragic stories of Iraqi refugees? That war is Hell? That innocent civilians suffer from heinous war crimes? That some overbearing country should not invade another, especially without good cause? After a certain age and unless completely dense, one should already be aware of the nature of war and what it does to people. As an audience member put it, the play "preaches to the choir" (although she thought it was a magnificent work). Then another audience member suggested that if we were the choir, then the play needs to go to places like Texas (which offended two Texans in the audience) or better, be performed for Congress to make them understand cause and effect. This last got some laughter because, I'm assuming, the only effect Congress seems to be interested in is the number of votes they need to keep their seats.
This brings me to the show's creators, Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen (Ms. Blank directed the piece as well), who hit a better mark with their previous work, The Exonerated, a play in the same style (but with some stunt casting) as Aftermath concerning wrongly convicted death row inmates. At least The Exonerated had something more covert to reveal and was quite a bit more telling about the United States justice system. Apparently, Mr. Jensen and Ms. Blank had only two weeks to interview certain displaced Iraqis from whom they took what they felt was the most meaningful, and then edited and assembled the stories to have impact. Though each individual story does indeed have drama, crisis and outrage, they dramatically do not connect other than in the most obvious way. Though I don't doubt the good intentions of Blank and Jensen, there is still a sense of exploitation about what they do.
The most exciting part about the evening was definitely the talk-back where not only do we learn more interesting facts about the refugees, but about left and left-of-center theatre goers. Perhaps the authors' next work should be about critics and why they feel the need to criticize (I prefer "critique"), but only if the characters interact and find the dramatic throughline.
...end
|
