To the Green Fields and Beyond
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As the situation in Iraq goes from appalling to abysmal, it’s no surprise to find the war to end all wars turning up onstage with increasing frequency. To the Green Fields Beyond at Writers’ Theatre is the third show here in three months to address the subject, after This Happy Breed at TimeLine and Noble Fool’s Underneath the Lintel, which takes as its theme the doughboys’ refrain “We’re here because we’re here because we’re here because we’re here. . . .”
This is the first North American production of Nick Whitby’s play, first staged by London’s Donmar Warehouse in 2000. It’s a subtle, acutely observed, intellectually rigorous work that makes the waste of war plain. On the eve of battle on the western front, a handpicked British tank crew takes drugs, gets laid, debates the clash of reason and duty, and considers the role of human beings in a mechanized world. But despite a number of strong performances and a few stunning moments, particularly when the crew mimes the tank’s operation to a chant that’s equal parts funeral lament and football cheer, in director Kate Buckley’s hands Whitby’s muscular script lies flaccid. The problem is that while Whitby wrote a play about Armageddon, Buckley directed one about Agincourt.
Where: Writers’ Theatre, 325 Tudor Ct., Glencoe
