John Patrick Shanley is one of America's greatest playwrights. He is so sparkling bright with words, uses language with such inspiration as he digs deep into the souls of his characters, that he is hard to match in dramatic depth and ironic humor. Seemingly, his play Defiance, now at The Manhattan Theater Club, is a profound look at discrimination in the US Marines in 1971. Main characters are a white Marine Colonel, his wife, a black Captain and a white minister from Alabama. Actually this is a tragedy in the classic sense, tragic flaw and all, and uses a reverse of "The Nail and the Kingdom" as an analogy (i.e., For Want of a Nail...).
In (approximately) Shanley's own words: it's okay to strive for greatness if there is greatness in you. But what if it's not there? Under Doug Hughes' direction, Stephen Lang, powerful in command and in personal anguish, as the colonel; the beautiful, gentle Margaret Colin as his wife, muse, conscience; and Chris Bauer as the chaplain who sees beyond the ordinary, clearly fulfill Shanley's vision.
Master designer John Lee Beatty's smoothly-moving set is another of his amazing works, Pat Collins' lighting is just right, as are costumes by Catherine Zuber.
Defiance is beautifully constructed, exciting, engrossing -- theater at its very best. Congrats, John, you've done it again!
