IRAQ ON STAGE: THE SOLDIERS HAVE THEIR SAY

On the eve of Veterans' Day, Emily Bobrow reviews two off-Broadway plays that let soldiers speak for themselves about their time in Iraq ...

Special to MORE INTELLIGENT LIFE

Amid all the coverage of the war in Iraq, the stories of those at the front lines tend to be unheard, unsolicited. Yvonne Latty, a former newspaper reporter, decided to fill this gap. She spent six months criss-crossing the country, talking to veterans and chronicling their experiences in Iraq and at home. Their varied and haunting voices can now be heard in "In Conflict", a powerful off-Broadway play based on her book of first-person interviews, published in 2006.

"I don't regret anythang...any, anythang that I've done in the service...up till this last war", says Lisa Haynes, a 40-year-old sergeant (played convincingly by Danielle Pinnock). Like other soldiers interviewed, she had felt pride in being part of the military. But fighting a confusing and bloody insurgency in an inhospitable country left her riddled with psychological problems. "I ain't even know why we were there...We just did what we were ordered to."

Adapted for the stage by Douglas Wager and performed by fresh-faced actors from Temple University, where the show had its premiere last year, these raw testimonials make tangible the brutality of war. These are wandering, pained monologues, delivered by soldiers disinclined towards introspection. Not all of Latty's interview subjects voice regret, but most of them sound darkly perplexed, tormented by a war fought according to rules they never learned, and for reasons they still don't understand.

Matthew Miller (Tom Rader), a 37-year-old National Guard Sergeant, offers a grisly story of treating a mortally wounded soldier: "And the bandage came loose", he says. "When I tried to adjust it, brain matter started coming out of the hole. It's like putting a house of cards together." The futility of the moment feels maddening. But then he collects himself:

Most of us believe in what we're doing. Most Iraqis are happy that we're here. You see kids playing soccer, people going back to work...The people were being brutalised. They're ecstatic we're here. But still some kids throw rocks at you - You help the majority and try and suppress the ones starting trouble.

I don't want to cry until I get home. If I'm going to tell people back home what is going on, the most important thing I want to do is tell it real.

The internal battle is constant, relentless. This is not a political production, but a close look at the inner turmoil of soldiers returning from a messy battlefield. Their diverse backgrounds--rural, urban, devoted, opportunistic--lend heft to a shared concern: that the military's loyalty has been wasted on an ill-considered war. "I'm the guy who went to die for the weapons that weren't there," rues an army captain.

"In Conflict" could be trimmed a bit. Given the format of spotlighting each soldier, the pile of grim narratives starts to wear. (In a recent show, the crowd clearly thinned out after the intermission.) But these stories feel important. They give shape to a conflict that has been both scrutinised yet remote.

The first play to view Iraq through the eyes of soldiers was "Black Watch" (pictured, top), an artful, inventive production from the National Theatre of Scotland. Written by Gregory Burke and directed by John Tiffany, the play was an audience favourite when it premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2006, and it has been playing to packed houses on tour ever since. I have never seen anything like it.

"Black Watch" uses first-hand interviews with soldiers to capture the feel of the battlefield--in all of its rowdiness and humanity. The language is blue and the humour is black ("I've been in a fucking war ya cunt"). But unlike "In Conflict", which isolates the stories of individual soldiers, this production is more theatrical. It mixes the testimonies of ten former Black Watch soldiers with battle scenes and the colourful history of the regiment.

The spectacle includes song and dance, occasionally recalling a military tattoo. (For this reason venues of the play are limited to unconventional warehouse-like spaces.) At times the actors break out into the broody chorus of traditional Scottish song, or engage in unexpectedly vivid dance, capturing a moment of angst or missed glory with energetic grace. A choreographed fight between soldiers has all the sweep of a macho ballet.

The play toggles between a pool hall in Fife (a regular recruiting ground for the regiment) and Camp Dogwood near Fallujah, where the Black Watch was stationed for a dangerous and controversial mission in 2004. This juxtaposes the multigenerational history and honour of the Black Watch--formed some 300 years ago--with some insidious "pissing about in the desert". Like "In Conflict", "Black Watch" considers the way governments can squander loyalty by putting soldiers in harm's way without due justification.

Last year "Black Watch" had a sold-out run at St Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn. (Ben Brantley of the New York Times fanned the flames by calling it, "one of the most richly human works of art to have emerged from this long-lived war.") To the delight of many, the show has returned to the same space for a limited run.

"In Conflict" is at the Culture Project, New York, until November 15th

"Black Watch" is at St Ann's Warehouse, New York, until December 21st

Photo credit: Pavel Antonov

(Emily Bobrow is the editor of moreintelligentlife.com and a New York arts correspondent for The Economist.)