Design Strategy

by David Anthony Fox

Make Love, Not War. We've heard it many times. But really, the Vagabond Ensemble seems to be saying, what's the difference? In this often captivating though not always coherent show, the company uses Sun Tzu's ancient guide to military strategy as a point of departure to explore that quintessential domestic conflict, the battle of sex.

The Art of War is a series of ensemble-created vignettes. They run a considerable gamut, from overtly comic to darkly threatening. Some sequences are wordless, using stylized body movement and pantomime to convey meaning. Theater people will be interested to know that Vagabond's creative process involved the use of both Fitzmaurice Voicework and Viewpoints, techniques greatly in vogue at the moment. I'm not sure, though, how much this will mean to the audience.

Ay, there's the rub. I'm of two minds about AOW. There is a marvelously cohesive aesthetic sense seen in every aspect of the show, from the elegant Asian-influenced design (costumes are especially tasty) through the fine acting of all seven cast members (four women, three men). Kudos to co-directors Charlie DelMarcelle and Leonard Kelly; Kelly is also a performer.

This leads us to want to find much in the vignettes themselves — but in the end, I'm not sure we can. There's no plot to speak of in AOW, though a few characters show repetitive behavior patterns. It might be wise to describe the show in terms of themes — the uneasy truce between attraction and violence, and the sense that communication within even the closest relationship is always played as though behind a mask, and that sexual liaisons are inevitably power games.

The best of the sequences are not only clever but clear, as when a couple, casually choosing a restaurant in a voiceover, is simultaneously locked in full kung fu combat. Another moment is chillingly reminiscent of Shirley Jackson's famous story "The Lottery."

But too many of the scenes are opaque and overlong. We gather from the director's note that they explore "a particular passage or central theme from Sun Tzu's text," but we don't know what that is — nor how each relates to the other. AOW may be highly relevant to the cast, but much of it is mysterious to the observer. The polished look ensures that even denser scenes are enjoyable to watch — but in the end, it's the aesthetic that wins us over, rather than the content. Put it this way — sometimes AOW is stronger on feng shui than Sun Tzu.

THE ART OF WAR Through June 19, Vagabond Acting Troupe at Second Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 215-563-5330