N.C. State University Center Stage: Aquila Theatre Company’s Dramatization of Catch-22 Captured All the Quirks of Joseph Heller’s Comic Novel
by Robert W. McDowell

Yossarian lives! The Aquila Theatre Company’s marvelous multimedia dramatization of Catch-22, presented Oct. 9th in Stewart Theatre by N.C. State University Center Stage, captured all the quirks of Joseph Heller’s wonderfully wacky World War II novel about the insanity of wars and the shortsightedness and stupidity of the military bureaucracies that prosecute them — and pay a horrific price in blood and shattered lives of officers, enlisted men, and civilians. Peter Meineck, the New York City-based theater troupe’s artistic director, has imaginatively revamped and revitalized novelist Joseph Heller’s own 1971 stage adaptation of his 1961 novel about American aviators making sometimes suicidal bombing runs on key European targets from an island off the coast of Italy.

Catch-22 is a crowd-pleasing black comedy, punctuated by an eye-catching sampling of motion-picture footage from B-25 bombing runs and related still photographs — projected on a giant rear screen between and during the scenes — plus a choice selection of musical snippets from World War II and more modern hits. Together, these images and sounds underscore the absurdist humor and occasional pathos of the events depicted.

Meineck, who doubles as the show's lighting designer, combines with technical director Ryan Brooke, costume designer Sarah Cubbage, and sound designer Duncan Cutler to give Catch-22 a splendid staging. Their evocation of the cockpit and bombadier’s bubble of the B-25 bomber in which Yossarian flies mission after mission, braving storms of flak and bullets from German fighters, is an ingenious two-story construction of the front end of a B-25, with Yossarian peering into his bomb site, his face strobed by flashes from the bombs that the B-25 has dropped. The plane’s pilot and co-pilot are seated above Yossarian, and the B-25’s waist and tail gunners sit on office chairs on rollers, in a rectangle of light, behind the set piece, where they can constantly swivel to spot and strafe German fighters.

Steve Stout is a hoot as U.S. Army Air Corps Capt. John Yossarian, a burnt-out bombardier who has an Armenian surname but claims Assyrian ancestry; and Richard Sheridan Willis is hilarious as the hopelessly hypochondriacal squadron physician Doc Daneeka, who tells the war-weary Yossarian that he cannot classify him as crazy via Section 8, excuse him from combat duty, and send him home, because of the infamous “Catch-22.” That is, “Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy.”

Stout gives a wonderfully warm and funny performance as Yossarian; and Willis not only makes an indelible impression as Doc Daneeka, but also is delightful as the ever-elusive squadron commander Major Major Major Major and the tough Old Man who runs the squadron’s favorite Roman brothel. Reginald Metcalf is highly amusing as the squadron’s vainglorious group commander, Col. Cathcart, who keeps upping the number of missions that must be flown before Yossarian and company can return to the United States; and Charles Goforth is a scream as the Texan who works for military intelligence, the drolly officious ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen, and Col. Cathcart’s sycophantic and somewhat sinister assistant Lt. Col. Korn.

Marc LeVasseur smoothly balances the angst of the increasingly troubled group Chaplain with the outrageous antics of Yossarian’s nosy navigator “Aarfy” Aardvark; Daniel Marmion (sharing multiple roles with Teddy Alvaro) is delightful as the ever-mercenary mess officer Lt. Milo Minderbinder and 19-year-old boy Lt. Nately; Amanda Catania is a scream as Luciana the crazy Roman whore and an Old Woman; and Stephanie Dodd is terrific as beautiful Nurse Duckett, whom Yossarian chases until she catches him, and Nately’s Whore, a homicidal lunatic who blames Yossarian for her boyfriend’s death.

Thanks to Peter Meinick’s restoration of scenes from the novel and resequencing of the play to follow the book’s nonlinear dramatic arc, Catch-22 has a very good chance of graduating from work-in-progress on tour to a hit on Broadway or in London’s West End. The highly energetic production that played Stewart Theatre on Oct. 9th was a real treat for the N.C. State University Center Stage audience.

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Aquila Strongest in Catch

Bruno Koch

This year’s two-day visit by the New York City-based and internationally-traveled Aquila Theatre Company at The American Theatre opened with Shakespeare’s The Life and Death of Julius Caesar, followed by a dramatic adaptation of Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22. In [Catch 22], the author launches a full-tilt satiric assault on the irrationalities of wartime bureaucracy with its logic-defying rules and the bizarre whimsicalities of men in uniform, often reminiscent of the nonsensicalities in absurdist drama.

Set on an island West of Italy during the latter part of World War II, bombardier John Yossarian tries to get out of flying duty. The play’s title, coined by Heller in his novel, stands for a no-win situation. The circular reasoning poses an unsolvable logical and practical predicament.

The operative line of reasoning that confronts Yossarian is that one has to be crazy not to be afraid of getting killed. Airmen who are actually crazy are, of course, grounded at once. Yet when claiming to be crazy, as most humans fear death, one attests implicitly to one’s saneness. Hence, one has to fly.

Yossarian vainly engages in a variety of strange behaviors to prove his insanity. With death all around him, he finally refuses to fly at all. Normally, that would mean being court marshaled. Ironically, his superior officers, colorful examples of cynical arbitrariness, offer him to be sent home with a promotion, provided he will speak kindly of them. Yossarian declines the offer and elects to desert to Sweden.

Director Meineck handled the intricacies of dozens of partially fragmented scenes with a surety and sophisticated fancy that kept the audience spell-bound. Actors’ movements and scene changes were designed with an impeccable choreographic sense and executed by the cast with the precision and ease of a first-rate ballet.

This production was a splendid parade of acting versatility on the part of the eight cast members who covered 37 roles. Different characters and age levels were portrayed with an imaginative finesse and believability.

Thanks go to The American Theatre, which provided a venue and an appreciative audience for this rarely performed play. Its critical undercurrent of war and institutional corruption speaks, in many ways, as eloquently to this country’s present national crisis as it did in 1971.

‘Catch-22’ a nearly perfect adaptation

By John R. Phythyon Jr.

March 2, 2008

Among American war literature, Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” is a seminal work. Its blend of absurd humor, surreal horror and nonlinear storytelling has made it a classic commentary on the nihilistic nature of war.

But bringing it to stage is a daunting task. Armed with a script developed by Heller himself in 1971, director Peter Meineck and the Aquila Theatre Company pulled it off brilliantly at the Lied Center Friday night.

The story follows Yossarian (Scott Drummond), a B-25 bomber captain forced to fly mission after dangerous mission and his futile quest to get himself grounded. He learns the only way to be removed from flight duty is to be declared insane, but he must ask for the diagnosis, which proves he is fine — the titular Catch-22. Yossarian slowly loses his mind as friend after friend is killed on the missions they must fly to satisfy the career plans of the heartless Colonel Cathcart (Reginald Metcalf).

Drummond gives a tour de force performance as the frustrated bomber, railing against the regulations that continually put his life in danger and madly seeking some way to not only preserve his life but also find a reason for living. His Yossarian is angry, much angrier than the one in the book, and we feel his frustration acutely. He is surrounded by friends who sympathize with his plight but who are unable or unwilling to help him.

Drummond is supported by a strong cast, all of whom play at least three roles, switching seamlessly and often changing accents as easily as they might change costumes. Richard Sheridan Willis in particular played seven characters but seemed to be a completely different actor in each role.

The set operated as a character itself, with movable pieces that could be assembled to create a B-25 bomber but break apart into beds, offices and other objects. The actors doubled as stage crew, moving them in such a way that scenes flowed from one to the next with minimal transition. Images from World War II bombing runs were projected onto the back wall to add to the atmosphere, and propaganda songs from the war were woven throughout the action.

As with any adaptation from a novel, certain aspects of the book were sadly lost. Background details such as how Major Major got his name were not explained, the continual theme of missions that were supposed to be “milk runs” but were incredibly deadly was not present, and M&M Enterprises making profit at the expense of soldiers’ safety was much more subdued than in the book. The novel’s nonlinear sequence of events is also largely lost, but the scenes were structured in such a way as to convey that same feeling of disjointedness.

None of that detracted from the play, though. “Catch-22” is an engrossing and haunting tale of the insanity of war and the quest to find meaning in an empty world. Meineck and the Aquila Theatre Company served up a model for how to adapt a classic from book to stage.

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