NMA, acronym for Not Man Apart, has revisited its 2014 production of Ajax in Iraq, which won plaudits from the public and critics (“it would be madness to miss it,” said the L.A. Times). The new version of the anti-war drama is running at the Greenway Court Theater, where NMA has taken up residence. (Next up is the company’s production of Paradise Lost, adapted and choreographed by Jones Welsh.) The madness, futility and horror of war are exposed by playwright McLaughlin, who has fused scenes from Sophocles’s Ajax with a contemporary story line about a platoon of young American soldiers in Iraq. To give relevant historical context, the play takes place on a 19th century map showing how Iraq was carved out of Arabia and Persia by British imperialists who believed that divide and conquer was the only way to rule. Ajax in Iraq even has a scene in which Gertrude Bell (Laura Covelli) defends the creation of Iraq in a brief, condescending lecture. As befits a physical theater company, the play emphasizes movement and spectacle, with chanted lines, much bellowing and howling as the troops march, run, and fight brutal battles with an unseen but ferocious enemy. Leading the Yanks is the towering figure of Ajax (Aaron Hendry, Greek sword in hand). Ajax is a brave, bold and magnificent warrior, but when the Trojan War ends, he is denied honors by the corrupt politicians at home and eventually goes mad and commits suicide. In McLaughlin’s version, Athena (Joanna Rose Bateman) comments acerbically on the plight of the Americans, who are in such a bad place — under-equipped, parched for water, surrounded by a populace they can’t understand or trust, fighting one meaningless battle after another — that they lose their humanity and turn on each other. Their sergeant (James Bane) even goes so far as to rape a female soldier (Courtney Munch), with the others looking on but doing nothing. The neo-con dream of building a new, democratic Iraq out of the rubble of the old becomes a nightmare in Ajax in Iraq. “Don’t tell me I’m doing this for nothing!” is the cry of one of the Americans. That realization lies at the heart of the story, which results in the soldier falling apart psychologically. Instead of committing suicide, though, she collapses in a shell-shocked heap. The powerful, uncompromising Ajax in Iraq is notable in every respect: acting, directing, costumes, sound and musical effects.
