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Chicago Sun-Times

Race, sex, morality light the fuse for ' Defiance '
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
THEATER REVIEW | Explosive topics, blistering play

November 14, 2007
BY HEDY WEISS Theater Critic

In keeping with the military backdrop of " Defiance ," the provocative, emotionally blistering play by John Patrick Shanley that opened Monday in an explosively acted and directed production at Next Theatre, let's hand out the medals right at the start.

Gold for all involved: For Shanley (who won the Pulitzer Prize for his previous morality play, "Doubt"); for director Jason Loewith, whose casting and pacing of the show could not be more ideal, and for the actors who do a controlled but sizzling burn of the material at hand. Quite simply, this is as good as it gets.

The subjects of Shanley's play are race, sex, marriage, ambition, responsibility, the military and morality. The time is 1971. The war in Vietnam rages. The assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the rise of the Black Power movement have resulted in a tinderbox of racial unrest. The place is the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune , N.C. , where tensions are at the breaking point.

Lt. Colonel Littlefield ( Steve Pickering ), is a veteran of Korea and Vietnam and approaching what he hopes will be the promotion that will finally stamp his career a success. But before that happens he must defuse things on the base. He senses that a young black officer, Captain King ( Osiris Khepera ), might be the instrument by which he can create some peace. But King, an exceedingly complicated man, is hellbent on not being used for his blackness.

Adding to the fireworks here is Littlefield's sexy, whip-smart wife, Margaret (Laura T. Fisher). She wants him to retire but also knows her husband still has something to prove, particularly since he sees their teenage son's recent flight to Canada as a clear repudiation of everything he holds dear.

Further complications come courtesy of Chaplain White (Joseph Wycoff), the smug but far from stupid new minister on base who cannot find support from either Littlefield or King. The breakdown of a desperate young private on the base (David Rispoli), becomes just the catalyst the chaplain needs to counter their rejection of him.

Nothing more should be revealed about Shanley's wire-taut plot. And in any case, it is the bristlingly smart, razor-sharp, intensely adult attitudes that come into play here that are of the essence.

hweiss@suntimes.com

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