A Play on War

This weekend, I went to see A Play on War at the Connelly Theater. The play, directed by Rubén Polendo and written by our very own Jenny Connell, is a reinterpretation of Bertold Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children. Unfortunately, I was not familiar with the source material, but that did not prevent me from greatly enjoying this show.

A Play on War is the story of a woman and her three children living in war time. They own and operate a cart from which they sell supplies to the soldiers, and have come to rely on the continuous conflict of Us and Them. But when prophecy shows them a future in which all three children are destroyed by war, Mother Courage comes to reconsider her own place, and the morality (or lack thereof) in war profiteering.

This production was very strong. The script was a sharp, witty, innuendo-filled look at universal human behavior, carried by a handful of memorable, likable characters. The set was dynamically lit and starkly arranged, with a few strangely shaped bikes here and there. The cast was much more engaging and entertaining than that of the other show I saw at the Connelly. Every actor was animated, and amusing. Delivery was great on the whole, apart from a few flubbed lines. The outfits looked somewhat similar to how I would picture a Clockwork Orange burlesque. There was also a musical element, with a backing band of two, and a few numbers, though they were not the show's strongest point. All in all though, I would recommend this play. It was thought-provoking, it felt new, and it made me laugh.