The Brig
In a world of political correctness, dumbed-down education, and treat-with-kids’-gloves discipline, it’s nice to know that someone still gets it right. Despite repeated years of sliding standards and denuded accountability within its country’s ranks, the United States Marine Corps still is resolute in enforcing exacting rules of comportment. Never is this more evident than in The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble’s production of “The Brig.”
Written in 1963 and based on the experience of writer Kenneth Brown’s incarceration during the Korean War, this play offers a glimpse at the seamlessness of Marine Corps protocol—indeed, the Corps’ brand of relentless, in-your-face discipline remains unchanged over the years from Brown’s harrowing ordeal in the 50’s to my boot camp days in the 80’s, to ostensibly, the forms of detention and interrogation currently practiced domestically and abroad. It’s left to the audience to decide when enough is enough.
“The Brig” is essentially a day in the life of ten Marine Corps prisoners told with unflinching honesty and delivered with a kick to the kidneys. The story is already in gear when you arrive in the theater. Four guards chat nonchalantly in the quiet moments before reveille, keeping watch over their charges, and impelling the audience to submit to a concomitant indoctrination with the prisoners. Then all hell breaks loose!!
With a cacophonous crashing of metal garbage can lids and the shrill barking of a Marine Corps NCO, the prisoners’ grueling day begins. These men are ritually abused, harangued, and kept under watchful eye by their all-too-believable captors who speed them on with physical threats and terse but firm orders. The prisoners aren’t allowed to speak unless spoken to, and even the most mundane of tasks must be performed in exacting manner, with arms pinned to the side, and arms bent upwards at the elbow. Transgressions are punished with a few debilitating body blows.
One could say that the entire play is a series of body blows. To be sure, the assault is relentless. There is not a moment when anyone’s voice drops below scream level…the entire play is high-decibel shouting and boot-stomping, and there is no plot whatsoever. The story lies in the dynamic that makes it possible for four men to so utterly cow and intimidate a group of men that outnumbers them.
One could easily imagine a spring training of sorts for this production. The actors playing the prisoners must surely have been forced to cold read while running a marathon underwater because they are in spectacular condition. The prisoners endure a grueling two hours of forced running, pushups, and systematic torture as the audience watches their anguish grow along with their sweat stains. And though the individuality is hammered out of the men, one can still discern glimpses of the humanity on their faces as they endure their personal torments.
“The Brig” is a show unlike most others. If it’s a quiet night of theater you’re looking for, where you can expect to catch a few winks after curtains up, you’ve come to the wrong place. There’s no place for dozing during “The Brig,” and those caught napping will be told in no uncertain terms to “Drop their cocks and grab their socks.”
“The Brig” is showing at the Odyssey Theatre at 2055 South Sepulveda, Los Angeles, CA 90025 and runs through March 30th with shows Thursday-Saturday at 8pm. There are also Wednesday shows at 8pm on March 5, 12, 19, 26. Sunday matinees are at 2pm on March 9, 16, and 30. Call 310-477-2055 or go to www.odysseytheatre.com for tickets.
Extended thru April 16th, 2008!