“The Wolves”

Sarah DeLappe

I arrived really wanting to like this show.  Pre-publicity that I had read sounded intriguing and exciting as the show was described as nine teenage girls going about their pre-game, soccer warm-ups just talking about life in the way teen girls do everywhere.  I already knew that Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves is a slice-of-life type of play, so I was not expecting much plot, which is cool with me.  I also knew that this was a 2017 Pulitzer Prize nominee — quite an accomplishment for a playwright’s first equity produced work – so I went in with high expectations, especially since I tend to be wowed by most productions at Marin Theatre Company.

What I was not prepared for was how extremely long the ninety-minute play was going to feel to me, how much I was to fight boredom midway through, or how gratuitous a late-play tragic event was going to feel as a ploy just to pull audience heartstrings for a character I could not even identify as to who she was.  I also was surprised how much guilt I was experiencing as a sixty-something man for not liking a show about teen girls.  I kept asking myself, “Is it just me?  Am I totally the wrong demographic for this play?”

The Wolves takes place on a stage-filling, indoor, artificial field (authentically designed by Kristen Robinson) where the play opens with nine girls in a circle going through various standing, sitting, and lying-down stretches followed by some ball passing and light kicking as they warm-up for their upcoming soccer match.  As they get bodies, minds, and psyche prepped, they do what any group of teens would do.  They chatter and banter in two’s, three’s and all other combinations; and they do so all at the same time.  For anyone who has ever spent even a few minutes with a group of teens (boys or girls), the scene is realistic; the energy is typical teen-manic; and the passions swing like a wild roller-coaster ride in just the way they most always do when teens get together. 

But as a play, it begins to be more and more difficult to discern much from the many different conversations occurring.  Over and again, lines are totally lost because too many girls are talking over each other or because they are talking with their backs to the audience and simply cannot be heard clearly.  Things happen such as something really seen as funny or something that is a major eruption between two girls, but the key word that sets it all off is unfortunately too often lost in all the ongoing hubbub of the active circle (leaving me as an audience member exasperated and saying to myself, “Damn … missed another one”).

Bits and pieces are picked up.  There’s joking about “her feminine product of choice” for a girl who’s worried her “pad” may have fallen out.  “Cambodia” somehow comes up in the far corner, leading to a back-and-forth about the khmer rouge, genocide, and rightful punishment.  A couple here is clearly gossiping about classmates; a girl over there is making playful jabs at a teammate that abruptly turns uglier; and that girl is trying to insert something into circle even though everyone is mostly just ignoring her.  But after a while, I want to ask, “So what?  Where is this leading?”

So I even tried several different approaches to appreciate the play.  I soon figured out listening for the full conversations between any two or three people was not working.  I kept losing lines or got diverted into another conversation that began to sound more interesting.  Then I decided to focus on particular girls to see if I could see patterns in character development.  But since the girls in the program are identified only by their jersey numbers and since they never call each other anything other than “dude,” “bitch,” “you f-cker,” or other such locker-room nomenclatures (which again seemed at the time quite realistic), I did not have much luck piecing together a back-story on any one of the nine girls.  Finally, I just stepped back to take in the gestalt and try to listen for the music of all the dialogue and the themes that might emerge.  That helped a bit, but that is also when my boredom began to take over.

While the physicality of the several pre-game warm-ups we watched was impressive (these actors really get major workouts in these ninety minutes), when there is a several-minute segment where all they do is parade back and forth across the stage doing leg-lifts, high-kicks, lifts-and-kicks, and finally scissor-steps, I was truly ready to nap. 

The pre-game warm-ups for the several games that the play represents continue with not a lot of note happening until a major tragic event occurs out of the blue.  There is a slow build up as to what actually happened.  Girls do what teens (and adults) do when bad news arrives as they try at first to slough it off (“I’m really OK”), as they go into confused states (“It’s so weird”), and as the reality with many tears finally hits.  But because we as audience do not really know (at least I did not) which girl we are really talking about and because this tragedy sequence plays on audience emotions to the max (with the appearance of a soccer mom, played by Liz Skiar, whose sobbing performance would make even a cynic’s eyes tear up), I found myself being half-angry (through my tears) that the playwright included this segment. I felt manipulated to be moved versus the occurrence happening as an important element of the story or to make an important point.

The nine young women who play with fierce enthusiasm the team members deserve high-fives and a big cheer for their excellent performances.  I wish I could have spent more time getting to know each of their characters individually because the glimpses I got were enough to show me that there was substance and an interesting story probably there.  Unfortunately, the script of Ms. DeLappe and the choice by Morgan Green as director for on-field warm-ups-on-steroids (that are in fact, very realistic) made that too difficult. 

So, looking back, I am truly sorry I did not like The Wolves very much.  I may be the only one who did not.  (Well, neither did my spouse, who is also male … so there you go.)  Please take my review with the appropriate grain of salt.

Rating: 2.5 E

The Wolves continues through April 8, 2018 at Marin Theatre Company, , 397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley CA.  Tickets are available online at http://www.marintheatre.org or by calling the box office Tuesday – Sunday, 12 -5 p.m.