The Daily Gamecock

'Ajax in Iraq' looks at war from all angles

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According to "Ajax in Iraq," the Iraq War and the Trojan War aren't so different after all — they're both wars, with all of the dehumanizing violence that suggests.

“Ajax in Iraq,” a war drama that will play at Longstreet Theatre from October 3-11, features two stories in parallel: that of A.J., an Iraqi soldier, and that of Greek hero Ajax. Third-year drama student Jaime Boller plays A.J., giving the character a brittle, toughened exterior. 

“She’s dealing with PTSD, she’s far away from home … She has to survive. In order to survive she has been having a coercive relationship with her sergeant, and this is very traumatic for her,“ Boller said. “It’s hard enough to be in the Middle East, but adding in sexual trauma and that abuse of power is even more for her.”

It’s two important issues, the effects of war and the effects of gender politics, converging onto one soldier. Peter Duffy, director of “Ajax” and head of the MAT program in theatre education, looked at the sexual assault aspects as universal, not military-specific.

“The military is a microcosm of our culture as a whole, and I think they aren’t exempt from gender politics,” Duffy said. “I don’t think they deal with it at a more elevated rate than we do. You know, you just have to look at the NFL if you want to talk about gender politics in all kinds of ways. I don’t think the military is a special case, and I hope people don’t leave this play thinking we’re poking a stick in the eye of the military.”

If the sheer seriousness of the subject matter is starting to scare you, don’t worry — the Iraq segments run side-by-side with the story of Ajax, told by gleefully anachronistic narrator Athena. His descent into madness comes from the tradition of Greek tragedy but blends in a more accessible theatricality. Ajax is an outsized hero, savage and noble all at once, and Athena toes the line between comic and terrifying.

“To have this striking Athena who will says things like ‘bonkers’ and ‘bananas’ is really kind of fun,” Duffy said.

The set is a map of Iraq cracked to pieces, giving the actors rugged terrain to explore. And explore they do — “Ajax in Iraq” is an unusually kinetic play, a style prompted by the climactic dance scene in the middle courtesy of Terrance Henderson.  

“He made it look primitive and primal and raw and beautiful … grotesquely beautiful, all at the same time,” Duffy said of the dance scene. “He is just incredibly creative and insightful and he’s just a master movement coach. He can turn nondancers into dancers like —” he snaps his fingers, “that.”

The dance scene represents the violence the female soldiers endure, a theme that encompasses both the ravages of war on the psyche and the potentially dangerous power held by army officials. A.J. bears the brunt of these abuses, which makes her a difficult character to portray.

“I have had to be really careful getting into character with A.J. because it’s a tough thing to play someone who’s depressed — you have to be careful to not get into that headspace too much,” Boller said. “I’ve had to be really careful to say good night to her every night and try to leave her at the theater.”

As the play progresses, its scope expands to critique the war as a whole and the way we treat our soldiers. Duffy sees the play as pro-soldier, not necessarily anti-war, but critical of the Iraq War.

“There are absolutely times where military might is required, and thank God there are people willing to do that," he said. “That being said … war’s not always the answer. It should be, to be cliché about it, a last resort.”

Duffy is interested in the reaction of college viewers to the play, considering their distanced relationship to the war. 

“I think, to a large degree, college viewers are desensitized to it. It’s been in the ether so much that it’s hard to take it all in and give it all equal measure,” Duffy said. “And so, I hope the play will make these people a little more real and will make the situation a little bit more tangible.”


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