Danielle Scott and Anika Harden. Photo by Teresa Castracane.
In the 90s, the Bosnian War not only ravaged a region, but the toll that it took on the people directly in the path of all of the violence and devastation was perhaps the most tragic element of this international crisis. Many plays have been written about the effects of war, recounting lives needlessly lost, cultures and populations displaced, and ways of life forever altered. Matei Visniec’s penetrating and often devastating “The Body of a Woman as a Battlefield” looks more specifically at the individual consequences of war and its profound instances of loss. A two-hander that vacillates between confessional monologues and even some well-placed moments of lighter-hearted dialogue, the play seems to want to answer the unanswerable question Foucault once asked, “who sought in the noise and confusion of war…the principle that allows us to understand order?”
…sharply focused and thought-provoking play…
Visniec’s answer is the ostensible and ludicrous notion of “peace” and order that might be found in the bloody aftermath of war is all just illusion because, callously, it doesn’t account for the bodies left behind. The playwright refuses to shy away from the more disturbing themes that become relevant to the world during wartime—and after, namely violence against people and how this violence and the havoc it wreaks forces their inner spirit to suppress, lash out, readjust and then somehow, some way move forward in the non-wartime version of their life.
Dorra (Danielle Scott) is a casualty of war. Gang raped and left pregnant, Dorra must learn to accept that the tragedy which occurred on the site of her body makes her a form of grave marker. Kate (Anika Harden) pointedly comments, “your belly is a mass grave,” a highly unsettling line. Battling her own demons, Kate, who serves as Dorra’s psychologist, must reconcile why she chose to do this work in the first place versus staying back in Boston with her two daughters. She is haunted by the bodies she cannot save, the lives now extinguished and piled in the mass graves she was sent to investigate. Kate makes Dorra her mission and her reason.
There are, as noted, a couple of quirkier moments and monologues in the piece that allow the audience to take a breath, thus fortifying themselves against the more graphic descriptions and revelations that otherwise anchor the play. Visniec sets out to paint a disturbing albeit necessary picture about war, nationalism, ethnic dividing lines, friendship, and, of course, violence enacted against women. Women are very often the most effective pawns in a strategically messy game like war. Dominating women, controlling them, and staking a claim on their bodies signifies a form of archaic victory on a battlefield that is without geographic or moral parameters.
The play is mesmerizing inasmuch as the two actors seem to read each other brilliantly. Their intuitive anticipation and reactions come off as natural and enchanting. It is an unlikely friendship but one that Harden and Scott make critically believable. In their solo moments of reflection and revelation, the actors give the audience exactly what is needed—a fourth wall eviscerating confidentiality that speaks to their characters’ need to both unburden themselves of the tremendous weight they carry while at the same time find a soft landing place for their aching weary souls. Scott particularly shines as her rage and inner turmoil take center stage, trying desperately to draw lines between her former life (about which we know little which is understandable as this play is about Dorra finding a way into the reality of her new existence) and the unspeakable nature of her victimization. Dorra, in Scott’s genuine hands, is a hard person to like and yet an easy one to want to love. We are all Kate at some point, struggling to help this woman into some sort of transition that does not destroy her. Harden does a promising job of presenting a character marked largely by her uncanny ability to compartmentalize her emotions. Perhaps though, Kate’s stiffness could stand to be relaxed just a bit.
Under Karin Rosnizeck’s direction, the relationship between the characters is given ample room to grow and a perfect pace at which to evolve. Rosnizeck creates a feeling of confined expansiveness within the intimate parameters of the Atlas Performing Arts space. It works incredibly well for the intentions of this play which, in and of themselves, seem at once both bold and also humble on the most personal of levels. The one problematic element here is perhaps the set and consequent staging. The entire play is presented against a backdrop of movable white cloth panels, adjusted by the actors as they enter and exit a scene. It makes for a bit of a clunky performance at various points and casts a very sterile shadow over a play that is definitely not grounded in sterility.
The lighting by Ian Claar goes a long way toward augmenting the intensity of certain moments and helps more effectively mesh the storylines of these two very different women. Also among the more memorable aspects of the production are the projections by Nitsan Scharf. They tell a compelling story almost independent of the events of the play. ExPats Theatre’s theme for this year is women and war. They could not have picked a more sharply focused and thought-provoking play to bring to the stage. It makes you think, it makes you feel and it makes you offer up a very heartbroken “why.”
Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.
Advisory: Recommended for adults only. Mature themes include mild language and sexual content.
“The Body of the Woman as a Battlefield” runs through May 21, 2023 at ExPats Theatre at Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here. Masks are still required in performance spaces and theaters.
