Review: 'This is War' at Tarragon Theatre Acoustic, Toronto

Back in the day, electronics meant a giant radio with vacuum tubes the size of corn cobs.  Radio plays were popular and are now trying to find new traction in the dizzying world of multi media.  Tarragon Theatre, with the fresh moniker ‘Acoustic Theatre’ revives a former production ‘This is War’ written by Hannah Moscovitch and directed by Richard Rose.  It is a punch in the gut review of the standard ‘war is hell’ theme that also cleverly touches on the issues of women in battle and the military’s relationship with journalists.

Set during the unending Afghan war the listener is exposed to horrifying scenes of unspeakable atrocities.  Through intimate conversations among Canadian soldiers, we learn of terrifying wounds, repugnant torture, and Sophie’s choice-like life and death decision making.  One female soldier and three males of varying rank give us the window into these horrors.  It is Moscovitch’s structure that gives this piece extraordinary depth as the conversations move back and forth from the painful return home to Canada and the in the moment battlefield.

Lisa Berry plays Corporal Tanya Young, a tough talking soldier who describes the issues of women in battle.  From sexual tensions to the intimacies of learning how to pee in a bottle, Young gives us an unfiltered view of life in the trenches.  Her interaction with a young and naive private Jonny Henderson, played by Ian Lake details the bizarre ironies of trying to establish a romance under fire.  A guilt ridden sergeant Anders and the pragmatic Captain Hughes, played by Sergio Di Zio and Ari Cohen round out a cast of artful voices that subtly parades us through the various horrors.

As mentioned, it is Moscovitch’s structure that enriches the play.  Partly set back in Canada, an unknown, unheard interviewer pries, with limited success, into the experiences of the battle-fatigued Canadians.  Distrustful of media, their answers are halting and at times downright hostile further displaying PTSD.  The soldiers ironically and cynically refer to media training they have received in the army.  A poker game, the night before an offensive, made an acute analogy for the reticent interviewees.  These interviews dovetail with conversations back on the battlefield where, ironically again, the soldiers refer to media training while dodging each other’s intrusive questions.  Another strength of the author is the fine detail.  A bleeding child slowly dying tends to “blink a lot.”  Bodies putrefy in fifty degree heat.  Any historical analysis of war is achingly irrelevant.  As the soldiers remind us – this is not peacekeeping.

Sound design by Thomas Ryder Payne was exquisitely subtle while also being potent.  A mixture of intermittent music and haunting soundscape, it touches on both the tensions of battle and the soothing of Muslim calls to prayer.  The sound of voices slowly fading away as characters move away from the scene was particularly effective.

Strikingly, military language fills us with dread.  In a pile of dead Afghan soldiers a number of small unarmed corpses are revealed.  The report describes them as “adolescent enemy combatants.”  War is hell.  The anger of battle weary soldiers echoes from the final repudiation of a journalist – “Are you done?”

‘This is War’ by Hannah Moscovitch,

Performers:  Lisa Berry, Ari Cohen, Sergio Di Zio, Ian Lake

Photo of Sergio Di Zio and Lisa Berry taken from Tarragon Theatre website

Director:  Richard Rose

Sound Design:  Thomas Ryder Payne

Livestream from Tarragon Theatre, Toronto (Acoustic Theatre runs to November 8, 2020)