In Rabe’s Vietnam Drama, Streamers, Parachutes Open but No Landing

Parachuting out of a plane means taking a major risk. When it works, it is a slow and pleasant float downward. When the parachute fails to open, called a “streamer” in army lingo, it is a plummet straight down to the earth at a breakneck speed. Despite its name, Roundabout Theatre’s revival of Streamers—David Rabe’s 1976 play about the tensions in an army training camp—goes for the pleasant float.

The play, which takes place in 1965 in the midst of the Vietnam War, focuses on three servicemen housed together in one barrack: the effeminate and possibly homosexual Richie (Hale Appleman), the conservative but good-hearted Billy (Brad Fleischer), and cool-headed referee Roger (JD Williams). From the start, racial and homosexual issues plague the barracks, but the introduction of Carlyle, a new volatile recruit (played with gusto by Ato Essandoh), heightens the situation until it reaches a violent breaking point at the play’s climax.

Rabe’s play is political, but grounded by fully fleshed out characters that are a delight to see on stage. Even Richie, in danger of turning into a gay stereotype, is given depth and emotional complexity through Rabe’s writing and Appleman’s careful performance. Careful is a good way to describe the entire production, which succeeds in finding the nuances within the relationships of Rabe’s ensemble. What it loses is the grand slam at the end—the moment of impact. Streamers starts on the right foot and builds appropriately, but tapers off at its conclusion, right at the moment it matters most.

The play is effective in many ways. It has extraordinary relevance to us today in the midst of our war, and it drives home the point that with or without combat, war is hell. The entire play is set in Virginia, and the only information we receive about the actual combat comes filtered through hearsay and rumor about terrifying Vietcong deathtraps. Then there are the two sergeants, clueless and blissfully sloshed, who play hide and seek and teach the soldiers in training what to sing when death is on the way: “Beautiful streamer, open for me; the sky is above me, but no canopy.”

There is much to enjoy in Rabe’s very well-crafted drama, including a gorgeous monologue at the play’s end, performed by Larry Clarke as Sgt. Cokes. It is hurt not by Clarke’s delivery or Rabe’s writing, but by the play’s failure to completely shock the audience with the dramatic, edge-of-your-seat moment that precedes it.

The production is solid and well-cast, and director Scott Ellis gets the play to hit all the right notes, it just fails to hit them loud enough. Thus, it fails to cross the elusive dividing line between a good production and one that is extraordinary.
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Streamers is directed by Scott Ellis and plays at Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre. The Laura Pels Theatre is located at 111 W. 46th St. (btw. 6th and 7th Avenues). Tickets to all Roundabout productions are $20 through Hiptix. Visit www.roundabouttheatre.org to learn more.