Review of Poly's "A Few Good Men" (as Not seen in The Paw Print)

A prospective student asked a classmate of mine for his honest opinion about his education at Poly, creating a dilemma similar to the central moral conflict of Poly’s latest drama performance, “A Few Good Men”. In accordance with the visitor’s request, my classmate described both his positive and negative experiences while within earshot of a Poly faculty member, who later confronted him, saying that providing a prospective student with criticisms of Poly betrays his obligation to encourage prospective students to attend the school. The situation presents a controversy: is a student duty-bound to represent his school in an entirely favorable light rather than uphold his personal opinion?

To answer this question, one can look to “A Few Good Men,” the more recent of the drama department’s two fall plays. The story revolves around the court martial of two Marines for their role in the death of a fellow soldier through hazing. What lingers in my mind longer than the play’s riveting plot and tense courtroom drama is the moral question it ambitiously and successfully addresses: can anything supercede an individual’s obligation to uphold his own morals?

The Marines on trial must choose between obstructing justice by adhering to the unofficial Marine Corps code of loyalty (Unit, Corps, God, Country) and providing a more accurate testimony that both proves them innocent and incriminates their fellow marines. The question of loyalty to self versus loyalty to the Marine Corps (like loyalty to Poly in my classmate’s case) keeps the play engaging, and though I appreciated its gradual resolution, I couldn’t help but drop my jaw in awe of the cast’s performance. Many students played extremely demanding roles and some played multiple characters; all of the actors performed with amazing confidence subtlety. The casting of some female actors in male roles conveyed a feeling that the ethical issues explored by the play are not limited to the characters, to marines, or even to men, but are ubiquitous to all humans. Characters’ emotions ranged from solemn and desperate to jocund and even into the realm of maniacal fury. Actors’ spit flew and their postures morphed and sprung, revealing characters’ souls under the striking lights of the stage.

The technical aspect of the production was equally impressive. Like in this fall’s other play, “The Miss Firecracker Contest,” audience seating was onstage. The actors had to perform for an audience that surrounded them on three sides, an arrangement that reflected the play’s setting: at the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Marines are surrounded on three sides by ‘thousands of Cubans who are trained to kill them’ and on the fourth side by the ocean. The roll-down metal door to the tech-theatre workshop dominated the side of the stage unoccupied by the audience, creating an industrial feel that seemed fitting for the military installations in which the play took place. Projected onto the metal surface were images of watchtowers and barbed wire. Atmospheric lighting schemes created environments such as the sterile, uniform illumination of a military courtroom and single searchlight beams isolated actors for monologues. A Spartan and tasteful series of sound cues such as drum rolls and bugle calls also helped place the audience in the midst of the drama.

I left the play feeling the satisfying ache that comes after an athletic victory; the exhaustion in this case came from merely witnessing the intensity and fervor of the performance. I can’t imagine how the actors feel.