Playwright: Aaron Sorkin
At: Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St.
Phone: ( 773 ) 338-2177; $25
Runs through: Dec. 18
In a fundamentally chaotic universe, a code of conduct imposing a discipline on human behavior engenders an illusion of security, or, at least, saves time otherwise wasted on useless contingency plans. For those whose individual disorder demands an especially severe credo, there is the United States Marine Corps—that elite branch of our military forces allegedly comprised solely of 'a few good men'. But as justice is always to be tempered with mercy, even men and women of uncompromising principle must sometimes exercise humanity. Recognizing that distinction and assuming responsibility for actions based thereon is at the heart of this 1990 drama.
Its heroes and villains share outcast status: in civilian life, lawyers are openly reviled with a bigotry intolerable when applied to any other occupation, and men in uniform inspire fear in many citizens by virtue of their very attire. So what distinguishes the low-ranking servicemen, on trial for the murder of a fellow soldier, from their superior officers—the dogmatic Lt. Kendrick, the remorseful Maj. Markinson and the sinister Col. Jessep—is not the righteousness of their convictions, but what each is willing to risk in its defense when challenged by likewise ambivalent adversaries.
The play that made a star of author Aaron Sorkin explicates these weighty issues in the lightning repartee that would become his trademark. But director Michael Menendian's goal is not a live-action replication of the film, but a contemplative examination of moral dilemmas facing us today. To this end, he deliberately mutes the temptation to actorly braggadocio to render the characters relentlessly life-sized.
Jose Antonio Garcia's Daniel Kaffee emerges as, not a shallow and self-absorbed WASP, but a minority youth not so different from the victim whose death he must avenge. Chuck Spencer's Col. Jessep is no fire-snorting monster, but an old man fighting old wars. Melissa Nedell's feisty Joanne Galloway is downright mousy. And while the capable ensemble, under Donald Preston's drill instruction, displays dignity becoming its military milieu, never do they surrender to propagandistic caricature. Audiences questioning the concept of 'Honor' and its place in our society, will find in this Raven Theatre production a rare opportunity to explore its complexities.