Its satire is overwhelmingly absurd, poking fun at the Bush administration’s methods and policies its explanations and justifications for warring on the world and law in large.
Penned by Christopher Durang, the play is so brutal and unblinking in its examination and deconstruction of the subject matter, it seems to shellshock itself; and when everything finally comes to a head, it has an appropriately surreal conclusion.
In the theater before the show, you’re met with a montage of media clips, largely detailing the rhetoric of talking heads from the Bush era to Obama and ranging from pertinent to the central themes of the play: Dick Chaney unveiling the “enhanced interrogation” memos, to a generally amusing Bush’s speech on the importance of doctors in America, where he encourages Obestricians/Gynecologists “to practice their love with women all across the country,” to downright chilling, where a very young-looking Bush declares unflinchingly during a State of the Union address, “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”
But as other talking heads appears it seemed that the video review was simply there to remind us of who all the scumbags were.
I began to question what the purpose of the projector show was. I was prepared for a remarkably similar political outrage of Us vs. Them, only with the poles switched, thanks to the power of hindsight and momentum of public opinion.
The set is like a giant American dollhouse, painted with wide red and white stripes and one blue wall, covered in white stars and guns.
Even the music that plays is selectively vintage, dripping with sarcasm about the odd obsession with older, “better” and “more wholesome” times.
The play opens with the character Felicity (Libby Kofford) in bed alongside Zamir (Paul Rodriguez Jr.). Felicity cannot recollect the happenings of the previous night, but Zamir quickly informs her they were married after a night of drunken tomfoolery.
Zamir is of Middle Eastern descent, though comically insists he is from Ireland (and apparently the part where all the pirates come from), so Felicity suspects that he is a terrorist. This is somewhat because of his tendency to drug her, threaten her life and speak hazily about the illegal things he does for money.
Personally, I was sort of hoping there’d be a twist where he turns out to be a member of the CIA instead.
Felicity is the central moral strength of the play, and Kofford performs it admirably. The absurdity and randomness of the script’s structure is truly challenging and Kofford’s ability to make the audience identify and empathize with her and the outrageous cast is highly effective, especially toward the end when it becomes challenging to watch.
Rodriguez’s portrayal of Zamir left me confused and wanting more. His slime seems stilted and his effete rage toward Felicity reminded me more of the impotent clips of Bush from the earlier montage, stomping and screaming about how the Iraq war wasn’t his fault and how the whole thing was just downright unfair.
Though Zamir’s fragile male ego works well with his antagonistic rapport with Felicity’s father, Leonard, (John Wylie), he establishes the duly noted relationship of powerful, albeit sexually unsatisfied men and their lust for war.
The direct connection, war to sex, is made very clear throughout the play and is also central to another black satire: “Dr. Strangelove.”
The film is even mentioned by Felicity’s mother, Luella (Leslie Joy Coleman). There’s even a clip of it in the opening montage, in case you miss it.
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Sexual images are everywhere — the gun Leonard waves in Zamir’s face while they battle for male dominance, Leonard’s young accomplice Hildegard’s (Bridget S. Dunne) literal inability to contain herself as she fights against a fictitious evil. Then there’s the not-at-all manly butterflies, a symbol worn by all the women in the play, which Leonard spends most of his time preoccupied with and hiding behind.
At first I saw Wylie as a raving, insane, deluded, right-wing maniac caricature, with all his talk about “the gays” destroying marriage to his borderline worship of John Yoo, the infamous author of the Torture Memos. But Wylie possesses humanity as well as insanity.
Coleman’s portrayal of a woman separated from reality out of necessity mirrors both her husband’s disassociation and the play’s itself. The one time Coleman wakes from her desperate disconnect she is rocketed into a dramatic climax about the Terri Schiavo case media frenzy. Word count restrains me from addressing each actors’ performance, except to say that Joel Miller, Mark Hisler and Dunne are each hilarious and outstanding.
“Why Torture is Wrong and the People who Love Them” moves gracefully from wordplay and superb humor to hefty themes and bitter satire. The escalation of violence of misunderstanding never slows and is unstoppable. And all the while, the play grasps desperately for explanations to the tragedies it both mocks and despairs.
BOX:
“Why Torture is Wrong and the People who Love Them”
Aux Dog Theater
3011 Monte Vista Blvd NE
Jul.9- Jul.25, Fri. and Sat. at 8p.m., Sun. at 2p.m.
$16 general admission, $12 students
