Wars in American Drama (Article)

Given its basic importance in establishing this country, the Revolutionary War has inspired few plays of merit and most of these have found but small acceptance from playgoers. Because of the scant opportunities for production, including the fact that British troops held several of the major theatre centers, contemporary dramas such as The Adulateur, The Fall of British Tyranny, or The Group have been classified as “pamphlet plays,” read rather than performed, although several of them seem to have had some circulation and helped steel patriotic resolve. As the war receded in history certain figures found special appeal for dramatists, among them Ethan Allen, Benjamin Franklin, Nathan Hale, Francis Marion, and Israel Putnam. But by far the most popular figures were George Washington and two men associated with treasonous behavior, Benedict Arnold and Major André. As a rule, Washington figured primarily in spectacles and other plays designed to reinforce patriotic sentiment. On the other hand, the real drama, even tragedy, of André's story gave rise early on to Dunlap's André (1798). The Widow's Son (1825) focused on war‐bred hatred and hysteria. Between the turn of the century and the coming of the Civil War dozens of dramas, comedies, and spectacles treating the Revolution were mounted. In his History of the American Drama, Quinn offers a partial list of more than fifty plays mounted between 1826 and 1860, most of which have not survived. Among the most interesting are Briar Cliff (1828), Putnam, the Iron Son of '76 (1844), Love in '76 (1857), and Horseshoe Robinson (1858). Generally, the more famous, successful works did not deal directly with the ramifications of the Revolution nor its more celebrated incidents, which were usually left to spectacles. Indeed, the most popular of such plays tended to be lighthearted pieces merely set against the background of the war. In later years interest in the war waned. Later 19th‐ and early 20th‐century examples include James A. Herne's The Minute Men of 1774–75 (1886) and two Clyde Fitch efforts, Nathan Hale (1898) and Major André (1903). Subsequently, the Revolutionary War was dealt with in such scattered plays as Maxwell Anderson's serious but failed Valley Forge (1934) and the popular comedy The Pursuit of Happiness (1933). Significantly the most successful modern treatments have been on the musical stage, notably the fluffy but melodic Dearest Enemy (1925) and the more purposeful 1776 (1969). The War of 1812 suggested little to dramatists, the most notable works being Robert Penn Smith's two offerings, The Eighth of January (1829) and The Triumph at Plattsburg (1830), while the Mexican‐American War produced nothing of interest, unless the plays about Davy Crockett, who figured in the Texas battles that led up to the war, are considered.

By its very nature, the Civil War long remained of supreme interest to American playwrights. Although both Northern and Southern dramatists were prolific during the war, their immediate response produced nothing of such lasting value or contemporary popularity as the novel and its dramatization that many felt were major factors in polarizing opinions before the war, Uncle Tom's Cabin. Most plays of the moment were flag‐waving affairs. The works that came directly after the conflict and reflected the continuing interest in the battles were of no lasting significance either. Probably the first important Civil War drama was Dion Boucicault's commercially unsuccessful Belle Lamar (1874). Its story (a Southern lady—married to a Union officer—who chooses regional loyalty over personal affection) established a pattern for the basic dilemma to be portrayed in many of the dramas that followed, as did its use of a spy as a pivotal figure. In short, slavery, slave economics, and secession (the issues fundamental to the war) were passed over in favor of romantic and melodramatic themes that employed the war itself largely as background. Belasco's May Blossom (1884) was a further harbinger of the outpouring of Civil War themes that began with Held by the Enemy (1886) and continued through the era of the Spanish‐American War up to the time of World War I, with such works as Shenandoah (1889), Secret Service (1895), The Heart of Maryland (1895), The Reverend Griffith Davenport (1899), Barbara Frietchie (1899), the musical When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1902), The Warrens of Virginia (1907), and The Copperhead (1918). If the fundamental issues behind the war were taken for granted or glossed over in most of these plays, they did receive a somewhat more probing examination in plays dealing with Reconstruction, such as Alabama (1891) and The New South (1893). The most notable of later plays to employ the war was Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra (1931), which used the conflict as a background for the retelling of the Greek legends. Much of the later theatrical employment of the war was in musicals, including My Maryland (1927), which was based on Barbara Frietchie; Shenandoah (1975), which was not based on the earlier play of the same name; and The Civil War (1999).

During U.S. involvement in World War I, American dramatists produced nothing of enduring merit. The initial response appears to have been confined largely to patriotic tableaux in the extravagant revues of the era and in such entertainments as Irving Berlin's all‐soldier revue, Yip Yap Yaphank (1918). One of the most popular plays about the war, Friendly Enemies (1918), appeared several months after the armistice and dealt not with the battlefield but with divisions on the home front. However, most agree the best American play about the Great War was Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings's salty, cynical comedy What Price Glory? (1924). In the 1920s and 1930s the war served as the setting for such pacifist pleas as The Enemy (1925) and Johnny Johnson (1936). These plays signaled the unromantic, basically antiwar stance that would underlie much subsequent writing about that war. The Petrified Forest (1935), for example, looked at the world‐weariness that grew out of the war and the Depression.

The approach of World War II inspired such interesting plays as Idiot's Delight (1936), There Shall Be No Night (1940), Hemingway's The Fifth Column (1940), and Watch on the Rhine (1941), but during the war itself most serious drama, such as The Eve of St. Mark (1942) and A Bell for Adano (1944), was solid but unexceptional. Tomorrow the World (1943) looked at the difficulties of eradicating Nazi ideology, while The Searching Wind (1944) was more concerned with prewar diplomatic bungling. The most successful wartime works were such fluffy comedies as The Doughgirls (1942) and Dear Ruth (1944). Possibly the best American play about the war, A Sound of Hunting (1945), appeared shortly after the war and failed. Another late, worthy, but unsuccessful play was Arthur Laurents's Home of the Brave (1945). By far the most successful plays about the war came years afterwards and lightened their undercurrents of seriousness with comedy or romance. Most notable were Mister Roberts (1948) and the musical South Pacific (1949). Other memorable plays about the Second World War were Command Decision (1947), The Caine Mutiny Court‐Martial (1954), and A Soldier's Play (1982).

If the Korean War promoted nothing of real note, the Vietnam War, the first war in our history actively opposed by a substantial number of thoughtful citizens, called forth a wealth of provocative theatre. The war coincided with what many saw as breakdowns in our society, with massive protests, with widespread rioting and looting as protests against racism, and by the beginnings of the worst inflation in American history. Dramas relating to the war reflected the turmoil. One of the most successful was the musical Hair (1968), which featured nudity and a variety of protest songs and unpleasant themes, such as drug addiction, racism, and sexual promiscuity, in its portrayal of a young man who must decide whether to serve in the war. The savagely satiric MacBird! (1967) was another interesting work. Probably the most important dramatist to deal with the war was David Rabe, who began writing about it while the conflict continued and followed with more material after the war. His plays included The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel (1971), Sticks and Bones (1971), and Streamers (1976). Although often not as craftily plotted as earlier war stories, they portrayed in superb theatrical terms the chaos, rage, and disintegration generated by the war. Dramas about veterans suffering from psychological effects of the Vietnam War also found fertile ground. The most memorable were The Speed of Darkness (1991) and Redwood Curtain (1993), though neither was a hit.