Los Angeles Times
September 16, 2005

'About Iraq' fierce in its antiwar blow


"What I Heard About Iraq," a world premiere at the Fountain Theatre, is a grim outpouring that chronologically categorizes the disorganization, misinformation and bureaucratic snafus surrounding the U.S. military involvement in Iraq.

Adaptor Simon Levy, who also directs, based his work on an Elliot Weinberger article that first appeared in the London Review of Books. In addition to the Fountain production, Levy has written three versions of the play for schools, theaters and civic organizations worldwide.

Levy is clearly a man on a mission, and his passionately antiwar play is unapologetically biased. But then, the sheer aggregate of disaster in Iraq, recapitulated here, makes a compelling case against a mounting misadventure that President Bush labeled, with no conscious irony, a "catastrophic success."

Levy's razor-sharp staging features superb production elements, including Scott Siedman's set, Kathi O'Donohue's lighting, Daniel Seidner's multimedia design and David B. Marling's sound, which conveys the heart-in-the-throat immediacy of a war zone. The keenly calibrated ensemble consists of Marc Casabani Darcy Halsey, Tony Pasqualini, Bernadette Speakes and Ryun Yu.

The play's structure is simple. Dismaying statistics about the Iraq war are interspersed with quotes from those intimately involved in the conflict, from the president to soldiers.

Iraqi citizens are prolifically quoted too, while horrifying images of Iraqi casualties flash on an upstage screen. Yet the voice of Islamic extremism is suspiciously silent here, and several chilling quotes from young American combatants, obviously uttered under the most extreme duress, seem cheap shots. Worse, a final moment of the play, which evokes a benign Saddam Hussein pottering peaceably around his jail cell, seems particularly disingenuous.

Although the play leans hard in one direction, its occasional lapse into propagandistic overstatement does not detract from its sheer power. An often stunning distillation of American hubris and denial, "What I Heard About Iraq" should be viewed with an open mind, regardless of political affiliation.

--F. Kathleen Foley

"What I Heard About Iraq: A Cry for 5 Voices," Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., Hollywood. 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends Oct. 9. $25. (323) 663-1525. Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes.