Streamers

A Review by Barbara Mehlman and Geri Manus.

Note: This is a joint review of both 'Stramers' and Peter Meineck's new adaptation of Joseph Heller's classic novel, Catch 22 playing at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

Edwin Starr's 1970 hit song, "War � what is it good for, absolutely nothing," seems to echo in two off-Broadway anti-war plays this season, Scott Ellis's revival of David Rabe's "Streamers" and Peter Meineck's new adaptation of Joseph Heller's classic novel, Catch 22 Both trumpet the view, though in very different ways, that war breeds corruption, despair and insanity.

"Streamers" set at the escalation of the Vietnam War, has much to say about the turmoil and confusion young men face when threatened by forces beyond what they might ever have imagined. This powerful drama focuses on four young soldiers fresh from boot camp in 1965 Virginia who are awaiting their inevitable deployment -- with obvious anxiety. Curiously, the enlisted men who share this private room in the barracks are all E.D. � exempt from duty � and have nothing to do but clean their room and contemplate their situations. Hypothetical discussions over whether they would rather be stuck in freezing snow, like in Korea, or in poisonous snake pits in the jungles of Vietnam, keep them pre-occupied.

New African-American draftee Carlyle -- a stereotypical throwback to pre-civil rights Southern sensibilities -- with more brawn than brains, bursts into their room uninvited to see how the upper half lives. Neither Richie, who is struggling with his sexual identity, nor Billy, the unwilling object of Richie's desires, nor Roger, a fastidious upwardly mobile 'brother' is sure how to deal with Carlyle's raw-ness.

Hanging out with him is risky and could get them in trouble. Carlyle's views on life are simplistic, and his impulses are uncontrollable. Tensions rise over race, sexuality and class, culminating in an unforeshadowed violent event that changes all of them forever without ever leaving their room.

While it is na�ve to think that racism and privilege do not still exist in the armed services, the issues raised in "Streamers" are not as potent today as they were in the 1960s. Which brings us to the anti-war dramedy Catch 22 whose previous stage version, written in 1971 by Heller himself, was unsuccessful. Director Peter Meineck understands in this new adaptation that staging lunacy is no simple feat. But one has to love Yossarian, the World War II bombardier who'd "rather die than be killed in combat."

Like Cpl. Klinger in M.A.S.H., Yossarian is bucking for a Section-8 to get out of flying more missions, but his problem is Catch 22. In true military jargon, Catch 22 states that one has to ask for a Section-8 and declare one's insanity in order to be judged insane. However, if you can successfully declare your own insanity, then ipso facto, you are not insane.

Lying in the infirmary faking liver disease with his pal Lt. Dunbar who's prone to anxiety attacks, Yossarian knows he can't win and will eventually be sent out on another mission. Anyone who does whatever it takes to get out of combat can't be crazy.

The only immediately apparent alternative for Yossarian is to fly enough missions to be sent home. But to get back to Starr and his "War" song, war is good for some things, such as making some men rich off the backs of others. With Col. Cathcart seeking General status, and Milo Mindbinder seeking millions on the black market, the division between the ones who send the soldiers into combat and the ones who are sent is placed front and center. And the number of missions Yossarian must complete in order to be discharged with honor keeps rising arbitrarily.

Catch 22 and "Streamers" are actually pretty good plays, but no onstage re-enactment of the miseries of war can drive home the reality more than seeing homeless vets begging for change, or televised corruption hearings such as Blackwater. These send more powerful messages about war being good for absolutely nothing than any play ever can.

Barbara Mehlman & Geri Manus

What the press had to say.....

"Streamers� is not perfectly put together. The play circles its themes for too long and becomes repetitive. And the monologue that closes it, delivered with perfect pitch by Larry Clarke as the gonzo Sergeant Cokes, is overwritten. But this last, rambling speech contains a truth that sheds a hard light on all that has passed."
Charles Isherwood
New York Times

"Sturdy revival of David Rabe's drama "Streamers," which is invigorated by a top-flight, if little-known, cast." & ""Streamers" is slang for parachutes that fail to open, sending soldiers plummeting to their deaths without ever getting into combat. By its bloody conclusion, Rabe's potent drama shows there are other ways that can happen."
Joe Dziemianowicz
New York Daily News

"This drama about a group of soldiers nervously biding their time in a Virginia barracks while waiting to be shipped off to combat reveals itself to be both talky and schematic, lurching predictably toward melodrama." & "Scott Ellis' production is well-acted and competently staged, but it lacks the dramatic tension necessary to compensate for the play's more predictable aspects."
Frank Scheck
New York Post

"Plays date for different reasons. Even a work as damning and compassionate, as violent and loving as David Rabe's Streamers suffers from events beyond its control." & "In director Scott Ellis' hands, it is angrier, more existentially absurd, and more blatant than the original production."
David Sheward
Back Stage

"Tough-minded, thoroughly engrossing revival." & "Rabe is a superb craftsman. He knows how to tell a story and build tension, a sense of suspense that director Scott Ellis carefully exploits in this production." & "Fine production, with an even greater sense of theatricality."
Michael Kuchwara
Associated Press

"The ongoing relevance of this final play in Rabe's Vietnam trilogy is matched by its striking theatricality. The punchy dialogue is simultaneously literary and naturalistic, shifting repeatedly between dynamic exchanges and beguiling monologues." & "Aided by a terrific ensemble that exhibits all the frictions and bonds of a unit in close quarters, Ellis brings a firm, even hand to the piece, keeping a judicious lid on performances that could have tipped over into melodrama."
David Rooney
Variety