Not About Heroes
The poet Siegfried Sassoon, highly regarded for his bravery on the battlefield of World War I, publicly and vociferously renounces the war and soon finds himself convalescing in a military mental hospital. There he meets burgeoning poet Wilfred Owen. Owen idolizes Sassoon, and a mentorship blossoms into friendship. Owen returns to the battlefield, and the relationship continues through letters between the two men, until Owen's tragic death one week before the Armistice in 1918.
Stephen MacDonald's play juxtaposes a love for language against the horrors of war. This story of Sassoon and Owen flirts with the idea that there was romantic love between the two men without overplaying it. Ultimately, to quote Owen, the focus of the piece is on "War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity."
And indeed, it is a pity that producer and director Bill Hemmer's rendering of MacDonald's play focuses on surface details at the expense of deeper meaning. The set, also by Hemmer, is elegantly appointed with era furniture. Props and costumes are absolute perfection. Hemmer excels at setting the scene, but stops just shy of giving his audience the cathartic experience this material demands.
By way of example, a slideshow of grotesque photos from the war (too long by half) prepares us for the equally grotesque rendering of the same sort of scenes in the most powerful poetry of the era. By the end of the play, the static images carry more emotional weight than the two living, breathing men we get to know over the course of a couple of hours.
Josh Mann, as the poet Siegfried Sassoon, brings much energy to his role. However, this energy manifests too often as heavy-handed bluster, completely overshadowing the brief moments of genuine, emotional connection with the character. The role is held like a mask as the player pantomimes through the motions: moments of passion ring false; moments of subtle humor and irony seem stale.
Although Robert Hardin seems to have an easier time connecting with the nascent poet, Wilfred Owen, the words still feel distant. Owen's foxhole-eye view is just so many frilly adjectives--the actor is describing experiences that have not been experienced. In other words, I do not believe that his Wilfred Owen wrote "Anthem for the Doomed." The words rarely pack the visceral punch of the slideshow images that begin the play, a sad commentary, considering the terrible beauty of Owen's words.
The homosexual overtones between the two men are overplayed in the first act, virtually nonexistent in the second. Here, too, the production suffers from a lack of any meaningful emotional connection. Mann and Hardin have moments of chemistry, but those moments are fleeting and often forced. The text does not lend itself to an overt display of romantic affection. Instead, a subtle, genteel love simmers through the dialogue. It would have been more effective to let unrequited dogs lie.
I do not doubt their passion for or understanding of the piece. Yet ultimately, the Bright Eyes production of Not About Heroes is an empty experience, bereft of authentic emotion.
Bright Eyes Productions presents
Not About Heroes, a play in two acts by Stephen MacDonald
The Lounge Theatre 2
6201 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles
Reservations: www.plays411.net/heroes