Review: The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial at the Westmoreland County Courthouse
Each year Orchard Performing Arts Company took one drama out of the Apple Hill barn and into a working courtroom in Greensburg. This archived review from Pittsburgh City Paper covers its staging of Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, and shows how much the real setting added to the play.
The setting is inspired: Orchard Performing Arts Company, also known as Apple Hill Playhouse, places their production of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial in the opulent courtroom of Judge Debra A. Pezze at the Westmoreland County Courthouse. While the audience gathered, real prisoners were being moved in the courtrooms below. It was a fancier setting than for Herman Wouk's 1954 play (based on his earlier novel), and it enhanced the air of seriousness surrounding the court-martial of Lt. Steven Maryk.
Maryk is on trial for mutiny for having ousted his captain, Lt. Cmdr. Philip Francis Queeg, during a typhoon, citing Queeg's supposed irrational behavior. What unfolds, thanks to Maryk's reluctant attorney, Lt. Barney Greenwald, is a tale of seemingly well-meaning officers behind the scenes building a case against their captain. Greenwald crafts a defense that redirects the attention from Maryk and attacks Queeg's strict, quirky behavior.
It's a strong production directed by Thom McLaughlin and is well cast. McLaughlin is a bear of a man and convincing as Greenwald. Kevin Bass is forthright and nervous as the prosecutor. David Leo presides as Capt. Blakely like a seasoned professor, with reading glasses perched on the edge of his nose, adding questions and perspective from the judge's perch. Ron Caruso is funny as the uneducated buffoon Signalman Urban. Scott Mazur is boyishly earnest as Lt. Willis Keith.
Michael Puskar plays Maryk as nervous and defensive, occasionally rushing his lines in his attempt to be emphatic. But the show's strong suit is Larry Kozlowski as Queeg. He poignantly portrays the unraveling of the commander on the witness stand, and though he doesn't have the benefit of close-ups like Humphrey Bogart in the classic film, his body language conveyed his growing anxiety. It's good theater, and although the program warns us that this story is "purely imaginary," in our real world of cliques and hierarchy, the reality of Wouk's intelligent play is impossible to dismiss.
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial continues at the Westmoreland County Courthouse through Nov. 18.