Drones
appear to be the new omnipresent weapon in our world. So it probably won’t be
long before the NRA demands that everyone be able to fly as many weaponized
drones around their neighborhood as they want. I mean, if we don’t the terrorists win, right?
The
weird, detached nature of drone warfare is front and center in this play,
written with compacted intensity by George Brant. In it, a former unnamed fly-girl
played by the hypnotic Hannah Cabell, starts off as a cocky female fighter jet
jockey, dropping bombs and flying away from the carnage,
But
when she gets married after meeting Eric who is attracted to her macho vibe, and
she then gets pregnant, she is pulled out of her cockpit and sat down in front
of a computer screen outside of Las Vegas. There, she uses a joystick to
maneuver warrior drones in another desert half a world away, lighting up
various victims (“military age males”) who the experts in her headset tell her
are the enemy.
Her
new job, a mixture of 95% boredom and 5% excitement starts talking its toll
when the drone cameras start showing her the human cost of her button pushing.
And eventually, she starts feeling emotions that weren’t there before,
endangering her career, if not her sanity. When she goes shopping at the mall,
she feels like a potential victim as she notices the “eye in the sky” security
cameras watching her and her daughter.
The
70-minute performance by Cabell is remarkable as she stands virtually without
moving for over an hour, speaking in a military-approved tough guy monotone.
Yet as directed by Ken Rus Schmoll, she still manages to convey a range of emotions as she pumps out Brant’s
short, karate chop bursts of dialogue studded with powerful imagery: As she
explains about Eric’s love for her, “He tells me he can feel the sky in me.”
This
powerful production already had a run in New York City, and further versions
are in the works in other cities. Affecting as it is, one wishes that Brant had
employed his skill with words to muse more directly on the questionable
morality of this incredible new technology that allows antiseptic, long-distance
annihilation of other human beings.
For
that, we may have to wait for the next HBO series, perhaps titled “Game of
Drones.” For now, Grounded is a heady,
distilled bit of psychological torment wrapped in up-to-the-minute military
might. And it definitely must be seen.
Grounded
Through
May 17, produced by Page 73 Productions at the Cleveland Play House, part of the New Ground Theatre Festival,
216-241-6000.
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