The Wolves: teamwork is all
15 Oct 2018

by Drew Rowsome - Photos by Dahlia Katz

A soccer team stretches in preparation for a game. The AstroTurf beneath them is a brilliant green and their chatter, initially, is divided, in neatly overlapping conversations between the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rogue and teasing about menstruation. The blood metaphor is subtle and the entire conversation ends with a punchline too clever and too funny to reveal. It is a riveting introduction to The Wolves.

From there playwright Sarah Delappe continues to double dialogues and metaphors all while mimicking what appears to be authentic - though I admit I may not be the best judge of this - teenage girl talk. But these are not mean girls. They may tease and on occasion let slip an obscenity or a secret or an insult that is more cutting than intended, but for the most part they are supportive of each other, a team. Though they pump themselves up to a bloodthirsty rage to go into a game, with each other they struggle to be their best.

Director Courtney Ch'ng Lancaster (I Call Myself Princess) keeps the dialogue and action moving so quickly that it demands close attention, making The Wolves seem both deeper and much shorter than it actually is. The characters are initially only known by their numbers as members of the team and as the text zips along we do learn their names as well as the characteristics that identify them. The Wolves is very schematic, with each character having an identifying trait which is then given a back story and then given a twist. The remarkable thing is that it all happens so quickly and subtly that it feels fresh and surprising. And exhilarating.

A lot of that has to do with the ensemble, all of whom are individually powerful but also so tightly interlocked that teamwork is not just a metaphor but a virtuoso demonstration. Though there are moments where everyone gets to shine - memorably Heath V Salazar's jokester, Ula Jurecka's newbie prone to very detailed and startling bits of business, a very dramatic and physical moment for Amaka Umeh (A Midsummer's Night Dream, Romeo and Juliet, James and the Giant Peach, This is for You Anna, Sister Act), and Rachel Cairns (Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer's Night Dream, Bunny, Hamlet) discovering alternative lifestyles - it would be remiss not to applaud each one: Ruth Goodwin, Annelise Hawrylak, Hallie Seline, and Aisha Evelyna and Brittany Kay as they fail to resolve a conflict. (Mention also has to be made of Robyn Stevens who has a brief but pivotal role that requires instant emotional overdrive but a description of which would be a spoiler both plotwise and thematically.)

It is refreshing that most of the drama amongst the teammates has everything to do with their ambitions and dreams, and not with boys. The coaches, the fathers, and the boyfriends are mentioned but immaterial except for their effect on the relationships between the teammates. It is not a world without men, it is just a world where the team is more important. These wolves are not at each others' throats but have pity for those who would attack any member of the pack.