On Wed, April 23, the Aquila Theatre Company performed Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” at the Hanaway Theatre stage at PSU’s Silver Center for the Arts. According to baylinartists.com/aquila.htm, “Aquila is a company of British and American artists dedicated to classical drama.” It was founded in London in 1991 and is now based in New York City. Before the performance, actor Scott Drummond held an acting workshop for theatre students at PSU.
Drummond, who played the character of Yossarian in “Catch-22,” has worked in New York City with The New Group, Ensemble Studio, The Women’s Project and now the Aquila Theatre Company. He led a workshop that consisted mainly of vocal warm-ups, and getting in touch, physically, as an actor, and ensemble work, “It was about letting actions flow instead of fabricating them,” said Rebecca Rudolf, a senior theatre arts major.
One of Rudolf’s favorite parts of the workshop came toward the end when Drummond divided the students into groups and gave each group a word. Each group was then asked to create a scene that would portray that word. Drummond would then ask the students for suggestions to develop the tableau further and make adjustments.”When I act, I feel like it’s from my head,” said Rudolf. She added, “When [Drummond] was on stage, you could see it in his whole body. It’s important to connect your whole body to that emotion.””Catch-22” is a satire on war focusing on a World War II bombardier, Yossarian.
superiors are abusing their power and are continually increasing his required number of flying missions. Yossarian wants nothing more than to be released from duty. However, they keep him there mission after mission by referencing “catch-22,” which means that the only way a pilot would be grounded is if he were truly crazy, but if he asks to be grounded, he is then considered sane.
The director of “Catch-22,” Peter Meineck, wrote in his Directors Notes, “Yossarian is no coward. He is a decorated veteran of over 70 missions. Heller exposed the industrial military complex that placed profit above human lives. He also indicts the rear echelon personnel that thrive on conflict while never facing it themselves. Yossarian is caught in a Kafkaesque maze of bureaucracy and ridiculous red tape. Like Odysseus he seeks escape in denial, love, oblivion, rage and isolation. And like Achilles he finally just stops. He refuses to move. He resists by the simple act of saying no.”