Shows: Mainstage
[ Coming Soon ] + Past Productions +
'GET YOUR WAR ON' - Local production brings popular comic to life
By Jennifer Meazell
The Daily Texan
February 2, 2006
Two men stand in an office. A box of donuts sits on the table to their right and a water cooler is behind them. In an irritated and matter-of-fact tone, one co-worker blankly responds to the other, “Don’t tell me who to raise my glass to! I raise six glasses every night to get drunk enough to love America as much as I did as a kid.”
The play “Get Your War On,” which is currently being performed at The Off Center, is adapted from the edgy internet comic strip by David Rees, which was first printed on October 9, 2001. In his strip he portrays the reactions of individuals to the events of 9-11 and addresses a wide array of post 9-11 issues faced by citizens of the United States.
“I had a lot of mixed feelings and skepticism about Bush’s reaction to 9/11, so I decided to make a comic that would blow off some steam,” Rees said of the comic.
The tone of the stereotypical, nameless characters Ress created are portrayed visually with satiric enthusiasm that considers how great the world will be without terrorism. After all, as one character says, “Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a ‘War On Drugs,’ and now you can’t buy drugs anymore? It’ll be just like that!”
At one point. an enthusiastic man spins in his chair and in the voice of an excited child anticipating Christmas says, “I have a feeling we’ll find Osama Bin Laden soon!” and quickly spins back around, his back faces the audience as laughter fills the room.
As the play continues, the attitude of the characters become less over-the-top excited and begin to directly criticize the war. The bold jabs in “Get Your War On” pull no punches with fast pace one-liners and hilarious dialogue. No public figure is safe from the criticism, not President George W. Bush, not Donald Rumsfeld, not even God.
The process of transferring a one-dimensional comic strip to a live performance with moving characters on the stage is no easy task. The play was originally performed in May 2005 after being written and rehearsed for 10 days. During the three weeks of performance the play was edited throughout the run.
The current production of “Get Your War On” was treated the same way. On no budget and after eleven days of tweaking and rehearsing the play, it hit the stage of The Off Center.
Dance numbers, songs and an extremely animated cast create a lighter comic feel to this otherwise heavily controversial material.
As two individuals dressed for a day in the office stand on stage exchanging political commentary on the development of the war, a man in a North Korea suit runs from backstage, dances around and runs off the other side. One character asks, “Who was that?” The other answers, “I don’t know. Some new guy.”
Political flashbacks to the 1980s also help add a deeper level to this otherwise blunt comedy as they point out the cyclical nature of the problems that are currently occuring in the U.S. while simultaneously challenging Americans’ ambivalent nature that refuses to learn from or question past events.
The mix of strong language, shameless political jabs and and an extremely animated cast make the living, breathing production of “Get Your War On” a performance not to be missed.
An interview with David Rees:
Daily Texan: How do you feel about your comic strip being turned into a play?
David Rees: I am excited! It’s very flattering, especially since Rude Mechs have such a good reputation.
DT: Have you seen the play? If so what is your opinion on it?
DR: I haven’t seen the play, and I don’t intend to — because what if I didn’t like it? Then, knowing me, I’d try to take over the production and act like a prima donna and a megalo-maniac, and that wouldn’t do anybody any good. I have no experience directing theatre, so I should just stay out of the kitchen. I trust the Rude Mechs to make their own work out of my material, and it’s none of my business how they do it. (As long as they don’t turn it into a pro-Rumsfeld piece!)
DT: Has your strip been made into a play before, by any other theater groups?
DR: No, although there have been many offers. But of all the theatre groups and actors that approached me about adapting GYWO, the Rude Mechs seemed to have the best understanding of what the comic is actually about--they saw through all the profanity and irony on the comic’s surface and responded to the emotions and ideas underneath. That’s why I allowed them to adapt the comic: Because they had a very sensitive, intelligent reading of GYWO. Rees donates all royalties he receives from his comics “Get Your War On” and “Get Your War On II” to Mine Detection and Dog Center Team #5, which clear landmines in Afghanistan.