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Somewhere there's always a catch
Looking for the catch: Philip Arditti as Yossarian Pictures: Topher McGrillis Catch 22
Birmingham Rep
****
THE Americans only entered the Second World War at the end of 1941,
which is just as well; had they been there from the start then Catch 22
would have been even longer! At three
hours ten minutes it is a theatrical marathon of Hamlet proportions and
is a glorious attempt to bring Joseph Heller’s wicked satire of war and
the military to the stage. The novel was published in
1961, which is about when I first read it. It became a sort of literary
right of passage along with Catcher in the Rye, and for the more
adventurous, Herman Wouk’s The City Boy. Then of course there was that
other essential for boys coming of age in the 60s, Lady Chatterly’s
Lover (that 1960 Penguin pornography trial was the best marketing
any book ever had). The Second World War
was still being lived then with fathers,
uncles, neighbours all with tales to tell and war films a steady diet on
at the cinema or on our two and soon to be three TV channels. Catch 22
was different, this wasn’t Biggles or Matt Braddock
VC and bar, in his Lancaster in the Victor, it wasn’t even stiff upper
lip, it was irreverent, poking fun at the military and illustrating the
futility of war. Its hero, as such, was Captain
John Yossarian, a Except as the crews get close
Colonel Cathcart ups the quota so no one can ever actually reach it.
Philip Arditti is a wonderful
Yossarian - a difficult part as he is on stage almost the whole time –
like Heller, a bombardier based on an island off the coast
of Italy. Yossarian has had enough and
wants to go home but if he complains that if he flies more mission he
could get killed then obviously he is sane so can’t be sent home. Whereas if he flies the extra
missions without complaining he is probably mad and should be sent home
but that can’t happen as he has not asked to leave. But if he does ask
then he is obviously sane so has to stay and so on . . . Catch 22. Arditti gives Yassarian a
hunted and a haunted look as an airman at the end of his tether battling
a system that defies logic, he even ends up stark naked sitting up a
tree – which probably had him down the gym and shedding a few pounds
when he saw the script - while Michael Hodgson gives us a Cathcart whose
hold on reality went many moons ago. His Cathcart is mad as hatter,
swayed by any argument, however illogical, unlikely or plain
loopy, and determined to make general. He
volunteers his airmen to fly more and more dangerous
missions, increasing the quotas along the way, in his quest for
promotion. Lt Colonel Korn, played
by David Webber, is at his side, steering him away from the most
controversial line to the . . . least insane decisions but ha his
own agenda - a campaign to be a full colonel but
he does show he is human, or at least close to it, at
the end. Webber, like everyone but
Yossarian, takes on extra roles such as the wonderful Major Major Major
– Major Major for short – who will only see people when he is out – and
Doc Daneeka, who is permanently cold and has the added problem of being
declared dead when he patently isn’t. Bewick in turn gives us the
first sexy and then psychotic Luciana who is Natley’s whore, a
combination of book characters. When Nately dies in action she blames
Yossarian and spends the rest of the play trying to kill him. Christopher Price gives us a
Milo Mindbender who has taken on the role of camp quartermaster and
turned it into a multinational trading organization, so much so that he
cannot be released for bombing duties. He is also Texan the military
police undercover agent finding out who has been censoring mail as
Irving Washington. Likely suspect is the meek and
mild chaplain, Geoff Arnold who is also Arfy who rapes and kills an
innocent maid with the justification he never pays for it and she would
only have said bad things about him had he not killed her. It is one of the scenes which
reminds you this is not a comedy, it a a biting satire, there is death,
real death whether the innocent civilian victim of Arfy, Nately or, the
first casualty, Snowden, who preys on Yossarian’s mind for the entire
play. It is about war and war is unpleasant, cruel
There is excellent support
from Daniel Ainsworth as Natley and also, among others,
the atheist Sgt Whitcomb aiming to get the Chaplain
in trouble while Simon Darwen provides
us with Clevenger and the most powerful man on
the base, Wintergreen who handles the mail and distributes orders and
finally there is Liz Kettle who fills
every other female part. They change characters are breakneck pace, sometimes just by turning around but you never feel any more lost or confused than Heller intended. John Bausor’s set is both
dramatic and functional, an exposed USAF
bomber with one wing parked in a corrugated iron hangar creating scenes
in flight, in a Rome brothel, offices, hospital and even Yossarian’s
tree all helped by Charles Balfour’s clever lighting design and some
excellent sound – a tricky area at the Rep – from Scott Twynholm. Rachel
Chavkin, the director, keeps things moving at a good pace – which is
just as well – and manages to make the story as clear as it ever will be
in a staging of Heller’s novel.
To be honest I have my doubts
that Catch 22 can ever be fully captured on stage or in the cinema, it
is a big, sprawling novel, with not just a start middle and end but lots
of them, and not necessarily that way round,
with events taken out of chorological order. It takes the chaos and
madness of war, the inflexibility of the military and bureaucracy and
then mixes them up with a sundry collection the mad and sane
and even the odd normal
character and throws them at
the page. This superb Northern Stage
production comes close; it might not win a cigar but is certainly worth
a cheroot – and you don’t have to have read the book to follow what is
going on. It stands on its own feet as a piece of entertaining, funny
and thoughtful drama. To 24-05-14. Roger Clarke
20-05-14
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bombardier promoted and decorated because it was easier than
disciplining him, who meanders though the novel surrounded by a motley
collection of airmen who are trying to keep their sanity, or insanity,
long enough to complete their quota of bombing missions so they can go
home.
and
unfair. It is funny but not with jokes or one liners, this isn’t M.A.S.H
on an airbase; it is funny because of the twisted logic, the surreal
characters and events, rules coming first such as AWOL trumping rape and
murder, and it shows the way anything can be turned to someone’s
advantage, usually Cathcart’s in his pursuit of promotion.