The Caine Mutiny Court Martial

The Caine Mutiny Court Martial isn't a bad play as commercial drama goes. Herman Wouk's study of the decay of a loyal petty tyrant, concluding with an elegy for devoted though unenlightened service has considerable vigor. Adapted from the novel, the script assumes much of the background of the novel, and as script leaves something to be desired in development of the characters.

Failing among other things to fill in where the script leaves off, Dudley House's production of this Broadway success is disappointing almost across the board. Though there are several bits in the performance which seem to be handled with minor competence. Fredrick Marker's direction fails to sustain any pace or rhythm, or to hold the play together in the light of any unified continuity or insight. His production even lacks the basic and most simple elements of stagecraft, failing to recreate the electric atmosphere of a "tragic" court martial in large part because almost none of the cast have any sense of military bearing or authority. They look and act more like hoods in an all-night card game than naval officers struggling with a very difficult question of right and wrong. The characterizations are without exception sloppy and indistinct. In addition, Marker's blocking and use of Sanders Theatre stage are most unhappy. The bulk of the movement in the performance consists of ridiculous and histrionic stridings from one side of the huge, empty stage to the other. And any merits or subtleties that the performance might have were carefully obscured by glaring and hideous lighting, featuring in the main inane and gratuitious follow spots, degenerating into periodic darkness.

David Bryden seems slightly miscast as Lt. Barney Greenwald, counsel for the defense, in many ways the focal character of the play. He carries the part with a brashness and at times a gaucherie that seems entirely unfitted to the role, although he has a few redeeming moments. James Putnam as Lt. Thomas Keefer, male-volent, sarcastic intellectual, shows some signs of having thought about his part, although he tends toward overacting. The same might be said of David Galloway who is quite engaging in his brief appearance as Signalman Urban. William Balchelder as the senior officer of the court martial proceedings has excellent delivery, albeit sepulchral, but no real acting demands are put upon him. Peter Kramer as Lt. Stephan Maryk is insipid, and John Dobbyn as Willie Keith is even more so, both inept and without any sense of development. Ronald Coralian, playing the prosecuter, is, like the rest of the cast, illcostumed, and lacks both in speech and manner the bearing of a military officer.

Perhaps the best performance was turned in by Director Marker as Captain Queeg, although supported by some purple passages in the script. However, the show does begin to pick up in the second act, and perhaps could improve in the remainder of its run.

Alfred Kaufman's set is awkward and careless, perhaps the keynotes of the show. It is not that these people are new-comers which makes this production fail, but that they have reached for the grandiose effects without any concern for the numerous details of scene and character that build up the effective image of heightened reality which is the heart of theatre.