Butterfly Hour tells of veterans of the Iraq war and the personal war they endure after their return home. The broad outline of the plot: Matt struggles towards commitment with his girlfriend Bethany, while being lured into shady business dealings with his fellow veterans “Oats” and Rick.
When the play begins, Matt (played by Tom Ashton) displays naturally cheery nature and sense of humor. Bethany (played by Christina Germaine), filled with energy and enthusiasm and enjoyment at Matt’s return, dances with him towards the fairy-tale wedding which she’s sure will make her whole. The simple set welcomes us into their living room, where the damage done to both their lives begins to emerge as we watch these two vibrant, sexy people struggle alone with the burdens of war memories and parental abandonment.
As if sensing their aloneness, Bethany pushes Matt to pick a best man for the wedding, and Matt chooses his buddy “Oats,” while at the same time reaching out to Rick, who works for a security alarm company, to see if he can increase his meager income. We spend time with the three veterans as they experience the aftermath of walking through mine fields and facing mortal ambush in an alien country. The trauma seems to have a life of its own, and a tidal wave that begins with the three men soon engulfs the fragile family that Matt and Bethany are trying to create.
The rich text of the play by Claude Solnik, the simple evocative set, vigorous and thoughtful direction by Daniel Higgins and the gifted cast work together to convey the destructive side of our “Mission Accomplished.” Before seeing this play, I had read “Thank You for Your Service,” David Finkel’s non-fiction account of veterans harmed by the Iraq war and the efforts to help them recover, efforts that sometimes are appallingly inadequate. Solnik, a playwright/journalist, interviewed many returning vets about their efforts to gain employment after the war. His sensitive ear has picked up their language and their bodies in pain.
Higgins’ direction has taken the script and given it a strong, forward pace, with scenes that brim with energy, and relationships between the characters that are authentic and many-layered. Part of the power of the set comes from the irony of the theater building’s origin, as a Work Projects Administration structure built to help us heal from the Depression. I was moved by the stark contrast between this positive, solid government effort, and the war that harmed the lives of Matt, Rick and Oats, who in turn harm Bethany. Rear-projected film clips of the war and biting rock music suggest the larger context, to keep us from total immersion in these difficult lives.
Bethany is played by Christina Germaine at first with a lithe sensuousness combined with innocence and then with growing rage and bewilderment as the damage done to her beloved becomes clear. Paul Wallace’s “Oats” has a boyish sincerity and infectious energy, coming across as the healthiest of the group, yet still wrenched by the war.
Scott McIntyre conveys Rick’s down-to-earth practicality, which soon shades into something more dangerous and lost. Tom Ashton gives us Matt, the playful lover and the ambivalent groom so familiar to us, but then swiftly begins a descent into a way of being foreign, thank God, to most of us.
I got the strong sense that three of the characters—Bethany, Oats, and Matt—would be good, productive, loving people if given the chance, but they are not. Rick is someone else entirely and serves as the link to the people who created the world this play describes, and which, unfortunately, is the world we have inherited. I am grateful to the playwright, the director and the cast for portraying this world so vividly. I hope the play will reach a large audience who will learn about this terrible, very real situation, and help us change the domestic and foreign world we’ve inherited.
