THEATRE
Written by Sarah DeLappe, by Lincoln Center Theater (2017)
Lincoln Center Theater Private Reels, Online Broadway on Demand until 15 Aug 2021 https://www.lct.org/shows/private-reels/
Reviewer: Kate Herbert on 15 Aug 2021 (Melbourne, Australia)
Stars: ****1/2
The Wolves
On an indoor, fake turf field, a suburban, American, girls’ soccer team, stretches, exercises, trains, bickers and laughs.
In her play, The Wolves, Sarah DeLappe creates a slice of the life of adolescent girls. In rapid fire dialogue, they interrupt and talk over each other. The team has a volatile group dynamic, and these adolescents shift from childishness to adult behaviour and opinions in the blink of an eye.
As they stretch, they argue about ethics, political correctness, ambition, rivalry and winning – and they reminisce about those half-time orange slices at games in their not-so-distant childhood.
They are learning the rules of the adult world and, in so doing, they interpret, reinterpret and repeat what they have heard, regurgitating political views and social mores that are not yet their own.
They joke, giggle, accuse, reprimand, castigate, confuse and preach. There is very little silence in the world of these teens – until one of their number is injured, then one of their number does not return.
DeLappe’s writing is beautifully observed, multi-layered, passionate and often hilarious, while Lila Neugebauer’s direction is deft and seamless.
The ensemble is a cohesive team, just like the soccer teens are on the field. Each actor portrays a different teenager, ranging from the confident to the timid, the political animal to the politically incorrect, the silent, the voluble, the worldly wise or the sheltered and childlike.
The cast never falters as the team careers through their training and their adolescence until, at the end of the play, they bang up against real and palpable grief and loss that leaves them speechless.
The Wolves is an impassioned cry in the wild from these young women whose lives are not yet fully formed and whose futures hang heavily before them.
By Kate Herbert
Writer -Sarah DeLappe
Director- Lila Neugebauer
Cast
- Paola Sanchez Abreu #25
- Brenna Coates #7
- Jenna Dioguardi #13
- Samia Finnerty #14
- Midori Francis #8
- Lizzy Jutila #00
- Sarah Mezzanotte #2
- Tedra Millan #46
- Susannah Perkins #11
- Mia Barron Soccer Mom
Creative
- Sarah DeLappe
- Lila Neugebauer
- Laura Jellinek
- Ásta Bennie Hostetter
- Lap Chi Chu
- Stowe Nelson
- Amanda Spooner
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