Desert Foothills Theatre's Managing Director, Ben Tyler, offers the second of what he intends to be a series of plays with Arizona themes. Following the success that was The Wallace and Ladmo Show is the WWII story about the escape of 25 German prisoners from a Phoenician POW camp, Escape From Papago Park. The "History Play" can be a deadly thing, especially if the subject seems more precious to the playwright than to his audience. Mr. Tyler, though, has found a worthy moment to chronicle. The incidents surrounding this impressive prison break really are legendary. Unfortunately, despite some impressive performances, skilled direction, and a few genuinely inventive moments, the playwright takes the easy route in creating a "History Play." By going with standard choices, such as flashbacks, a journalist as commentator, clunky exposition, and audience-confronting narration, the script sometimes proves more tedious than the event it seeks to chronicle. Without experimentation, such inadvertently laughable lines as "I died in 1995" are allowed to creep into the script. This is one time where I wish the playwright were as inventive as the ingenious characters he has chronicled.
To keep Nazi U Boat POWs in "the middle of the middle of nowhere," the Army training facility at Papago Park was converted to a POW camp during the latter part of the Second World War. Under the direction of crafty U Boat Captain Jurgen Wattenberg, 25 prisoners tunneled 178 feet to the edge of the Crosscut Canal, successfully escaping just before Christmas, 1944. While all were eventually recaptured, some evaded detection for a month.
Director David Barker has set a fast clip to the show, and creates some very interesting stage pictures. The sequence of the actual escape in the second act is a mini masterpiece. In casting, with the requirement of 14 men, Mr. Barker has done what he can with what he was given.
He has wisely tapped Hamilton Mitchell for the role of Captain Wattenberg. Mr. Mitchell can move from militaristic to expressive easily, and has a naturally commanding presence. His transitions from barking orders to reveling with his men to manipulating the camp's commander are seamless. Flatter in his role as camp commander Colonel Holden is Raymond Shurtz, who rarely adds levels beyond gruff to his offering. As the incident investigator, Captain Brown, Lee Struck has a few impressive moments. Inventively staged and earnestly played, Bruce Halperin's portrayal of famed radio journalist Walter Winchell is better than the concept would seem to allow. Most of the remainder of the ensemble is solid, and handles the David Vining-coached dialect well.
The production's design elements are strong. Matt Marich's set is very imaginative, while Aaron Severtson's light and sound design are impressive. Maureen Smith's costumes are generally true-to-period, and work to character.
While the production is not quite as dry as the ground the POWs tunneled through to gain their freedom, it could definitely use a few more surprises. Unfortunately, the script's one major left turn in the final moments brings it into even more familiar territory, shifting the work from one that puts a refreshing spin on Nazi POWs as individuals able to earn the audience's support and respect to one that feels the need to inject inevitable reminders of their culture's atrocities. If Mr. Tyler had been more adventurous, his script would have tapped into the ingenuity of its subject's choices, rather than falling back on established conventions. Had Captain Wattenberg thought the same way, the play would never have existed in the first place.
Production Details:
Escape From Papago Park by Ben
Tyler
Desert Foothills Theatre
The Cactus Shadow's Fine Arts Center, Carefree
(480) 488-1981
March 15th - April 1st, 2001