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Synchronicity’s ‘Women and War’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW: “Women and War.” By Synchronicity Performance Group. Through Oct. 9 at 7 Stages.
The infomercial sounds so perky and cheerful that we can only guess what it’s trying to sell. A cubic zirconia ring as big as the Pentagon? A gadget for making a blooming onion? A self-help video for the sexually frustrated?
Turns out that Karen, the operator standing by to take our order, represents Combex, manufacturer of curiously strong combat boots, which are in great demand because nobody wants “the government-issued” variety. But when Karen begins to think about the faceless people who wear the product, the tone of Synchronicity Performance Group’s “Women and War” shifts from absurdity to poignancy. Consider the boots that are returned unused because the soldier never got a chance to wear them.
This is how the shoe drops in Synchronicity’s occasionally funny, often chilling and forever insightful look into the psychology of war in all its guises. The product of nearly 50 interviews with Atlanta-area women whose lives have been touched by the social scourge, the world premiere succeeds at the nearly impossible task of making a dreaded subject come to life as a provocative entertainment that gently touches the soul with compassion and generosity.
Though the show is largely fact-based, it resists the temptation to exist as a mere collection of testimonials, instead transforming the material into a multimedia hybrid for nine performers that uses visual imagery, dance, song and text to evince a remarkably effective theatrical experience.
At two hours, 20 minutes, “Women and War” is several scenes too long and probably would work better as an intermissionless one-act. But as a series of oral histories that have been thoughtfully dramatized and unified with beautifully crafted choreography, the show is a significant meditation on the topic of war.
What director Rachel May’s “Women and War” does best is reveal humankind’s capacity for suffering and the genetic predisposition to recover —- but never forget.
It would be nearly impossible not to be moved by the story of a Vietnamese woman who bursts into tears when she remembers her long-lost village, the Atlanta journalist who’s haunted by the suffering and famine of the Sudan or the young protester who was smashed by an Israeli bulldozer in Palestine. (In a variety of roles, actors Crystal A. Dickinson, Suehyla El-Attar, Kristi Casey, Joanna Daniel and Danielle Mindess give standout performances.)
Choreographer Celeste Miller uses a clear, purposeful dance vocabulary to make conversations around the situations suggested by the text, which draws on the Civil War diary of 10-year-old Atlantan Carrie Berry and the recollections of present-day spies, missionaries, suicide bombers, Marietta peace protesters and, yes, even employees of a Georgia boot factory.
One of the most striking things about “Women and War” is its constant movement. The actors rarely sit still. And how can they, when there is so much symbolic laundry to fold, suitcases to pack and unpack, evil spirits that need to be swept away?
Sometimes it’s hard to tell where the facts leave off and the fiction begins, and the accumulated technical bells and whistles can be overwrought (although considering that 24 artists collaborated on the project over 17 months, the noise and clutter could be worse). Ultimately, “Women and War” validates the work that went into it and reaffirms the promise of Synchronicity as one of Atlanta’s most exciting ensembles.
Political art can be hit-or-miss. And I’m the first to cry foul when the agenda jumps out and tries to strangle me. But for “Women and War,” I am grateful. Finally, a cultural experience that puts a human face on the barrage of contradictions we read about in the daily news. Now that’s good theater.
THE 411: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. 7 p.m. Sundays. Through Oct. 9. $15-$20. Synchronicity Performance Group, 7 Stages, 1105 Euclid Ave., Little Five Points. 404-325-5168. www.synchrotheatre.com.
Verdict: Profound but not suffocating.
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