{"id":9893,"date":"2014-01-31T17:42:58","date_gmt":"2014-02-01T01:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=9893"},"modified":"2014-01-31T17:43:59","modified_gmt":"2014-02-01T01:43:59","slug":"ross-valley-players-1928-play-about-war-resonates-in-todays-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/ross-valley-players-1928-play-about-war-resonates-in-todays-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Ross Valley Players\u2019 1928 play about war resonates in today\u2019s world"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Woody’s [rating:5]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

David Yen stars as Capt. Stanhope (right) in “Journey’s End,” supported by (from left) Francis Serpa, Stephen Dietz, Sean Gunnell and Tom Hudgens. Photo by Robin Jackson.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cJourney\u2019s End\u201d is no \u201cWar Horse.\u201d I saw no fantastical puppets.<\/p>\n

\u201cJourney\u2019s End\u201d is no \u201cApocalypse Now.\u201d I heard no Wagnerian explosions or deafening helicopters.<\/p>\n

\u201cJourney\u2019s End\u201d is no \u201cSaving Private Ryan.\u201d I witnessed no gore.<\/p>\n

What I did find, however, was considerable poignancy and a tough look at what war does to young men.<\/p>\n

Regrettably, it mirrors the many wars across today\u2019s globe.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an exceptional anti-war drama, despite playwright R.C. Sherriff\u2019s insistence \u2014 according to director James Dunn \u2014 that he didn\u2019t set out to create that type of play.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also the best Ross Valley Players show I\u2019ve ever attended, and that\u2019s saying a lot because I\u2019ve seen many of their shows that were superb.<\/p>\n

\u201cJourney\u2019s End\u201d is a saga of disposable lives in the so-called Great War.<\/p>\n

Its setting is a 1918 WWI British infantry dugout\/bunker near St. Quentin, France, that\u2019s about to be assaulted by German soldiers (\u201cthe Boche\u201d). Its twin focus is on the interminable waiting (which may portend death) and a rushed 12-man patrol sent out to seize an enemy warrior.<\/p>\n

The protagonist is Stanhope, a captain who drinks a lot to deaden the pain caused by the conflict and his fears that his men don\u2019t respect him.<\/p>\n

David Yen brilliantly portrays Stanhope, who originally was played by a young Laurence Olivier. Yen\u2019s facial expressions and eyes become transparent windows to his character\u2019s tormented soul.<\/p>\n

His stage bouts with half a dozen bottles are neither over-the-top nor maudlin.<\/p>\n

Yen is impressively supported by Tom Hudgens as Lt. Osborne, an ultra-proper officer who\u2019s purposefully morphed into a kindly uncle to the soldiers, and Francis Serpa as 2nd Lt. Raleigh, a young, idealistic ex-school chum of Stanhope who\u2019s stuck in hero-worship mode.<\/p>\n

The rest of the all-male cast also is convincing: Philip Goleman as 2nd Lt. Hibbert, a cowering whiner; Sean Gunnell as Pvt. Mason, comic relief as a cunning kitchen worker always scrambling to make up for supply deficiencies; Stephen Dietz, Jeff Taylor and two actors who each assume dual roles, Steve Price and Ross Berger.<\/p>\n

Special tribute must go to Dunn and his assistant dialect coach, Judy Holmes, for training the nine actors so well each accent stayed authentic throughout.<\/p>\n

And never turn into caricature.<\/p>\n

Deserving extra compliments, too, are Ron Krempetz for his set design (from real dirt on the floor to a hint of barbed wire peeking through an opening); Dietz for his sound design (crackling armaments getting closer and closer yanked me right into the action, and scratchy recordings of \u201cMademoiselle from Armenti\u00e8res<\/a>\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s a Long Way to Tipperary\u201d became instant time machines); and spot-on costumes by Michael A. Berg.<\/p>\n

The two-hour play, despite having first been staged in 1928, miraculously avoids the clich\u00e9s of the hundreds of war dramas, films and teleplays that came after.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no token black, no token Latino, no token Jew.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no super-patriot, no Dear John letter, no townie with a heart of gold.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, there are no heroes.<\/p>\n

There are, however, little touches that work especially well to break the tension \u2014 the awkwardness of a Brit and German trying to scale language barriers, the reading aloud of passages about the walrus and cabbages and kings, and a bizarre description of an earwig race.<\/p>\n

By sidestepping most stereotypes and zeroing in on the human condition, Sherriff, who\u2019d won a Military Cross after being wounded in the battle of Passchendaele in 1917, penned a play with multiple layers that retains its meaning almost a century later.<\/p>\n

It won a 2007 Tony for best revival.<\/p>\n

Dunn now has breathed new life into it by bringing to the production a rich history of directing and teaching theater arts for 50 years, including three decades at the helm of the Mountain Play.<\/p>\n

Is war hell?<\/p>\n

In the WWI battle of the Somme, 21,000 British soldiers died on the first day, and 38,000 more became casualties. Mankind apparently didn\u2019t learn much from that episode.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, neither \u201cJourney\u2019s End\u201d nor a multitude of anti-war tracts since have had the power to change anything.<\/p>\n

“Journey\u2019s End\u201d will run at The Barn, Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross, through Feb. 16. Night performances, Thursdays at 7:30, Fridays and Saturdays at 8; matinees, Sundays at 2. Tickets: $13-$26. Information: (415) 456-9555 or www.rossvalleyplayers.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Woody’s [rating:5] \u201cJourney\u2019s End\u201d is no \u201cWar Horse.\u201d I saw no fantastical puppets. \u201cJourney\u2019s End\u201d is no \u201cApocalypse Now.\u201d I heard no Wagnerian explosions or deafening helicopters. \u201cJourney\u2019s End\u201d is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9893","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"