By Dessa Bayrock (The Cascade) – Email
The Field
By Robert Spera
Directed by Ron Jackson (UFV)
Running time: Paired with Hidden In This Picture, total running time 60 minutes.
Showings: Friday at 9:00 p.m. and Sunday at 12:00 noon.
Memorable lines: “Man, we’re gonna look like freakin’ Rockettes!”
“Not only are you not black, you grew up in frickin’ Long Island.”
Warnings: Strong language and racial slurs.
I can’t get enough of Dfest sets; I’m continually astounded at how much can be accomplished with so little. In this case, tall straw fronds and some burlap sacking transport us to a battlefield. We aren’t given a time period or a place, but we know that we are faced with two soldiers (Kirk MacFarlane and Brandon Mindel) making their way through war.
One of the soldiers cracks a joke as the first line, and this sets the tone for the entire play. Although the conversation is light-hearted on the surface, both MacFarlane and Mindel do an excellent job of creating instant tension in the scene through body language, posture, and inflection. It’s subtle, and it’s brilliant, and the audience is intrigued: both actors perfectly nail an undertone of desperation.
The lights and effects are similarly simple and effective, perfectly timed to create believable explosions offstage. My only complaint was the continuous background cricket soundtrack, which got old really fast. Similarly, Mindel added a hint of drawl to his inflection, which works for the character but sometimes seems a little forced.
Overall, the setting and the strong characterization blend together to set the audience firmly in the scene – and as we learn the high stakes of the situation, we gain the same desperation as the two soldiers as we hope beyond hope that the ending is not inevitable.
