Oakland, CA: TheatreFIRST is producing a rare revival of playwright Robert Holman’s abstract portrait of the lingering effects of war, Making Noise Quietly. In three one-act plays, Holman gives playgoers a glimpse at war’s more rarely acknowledged consequences and victims—often less spectacular than those one sees on the news, yet equally tragic.
Each of the three plays is essentially a dialogue in which two characters who have been deeply affected by a war (WWII in the first play, The Falklands War in the other two) in their past share their experiences and attempt to cope with the awful destruction it has wrought in their consciousness. None of the plays take place on a battlefield or feature soldiers in combat, yet war remains the driving force and major character in all of them. Whether it’s a mother who is finding out she’s lost her son for reasons she can’t fathom, or an unaccustomed father who can’t control his anger after experiencing the horrible adrenaline of killing, all seven characters in the play present a different version of the anguish war causes—far behind the front lines, and long after the peace treaties are signed.
Though Making Noise Quietly was first produced in Britain in 1986, its invocation of the oft-disputed, short but tragic Falklands War (backdrop for two of the three short plays) seems particularly timely in 2005 America. As co-director Clive Chafer so eloquently states in his Director’s Notes for the play’s program: "At this time, it is good to remember that there is no such thing as a limited war, a war whose victory is predictable and whose course can be controlled; a war that can be fought and won and quickly left behind—certainly not for those who are brought down by it: the fighters, and the many touched by its tendrils, which reach out over time and space, and leave their mark, like a tattoo, indelibly."
If you’re in the SF Bay Area:
Making Noise Quietly plays at Mills College campus in Oakland, CA through June 5th.
Details and ticket information available at the TheatreFIRST Web site or by calling (510) 436-5085.