Three friends taking out three women as part of a wager sounds like the familiar beginning of a comedy of errors. Even though this is the premise for Dogfight, this musical is no light-hearted comedy – instead it carries heavy issues at its core.
The plot follows a group of marines who are spending their final night before deployment to Vietnam partying in San Francisco.
“Here are these young marines thinking, ‘Oh we’re going to go off to war. It’s going to be a blast,’” said Matt Montgomery, who plays a soldier named Stevens. But that’s not what happens at all.
Based on the 1991 film of the same name, the soldiers compete to bring the ugliest or most awkward date to a “dogfight” party on their final night. One of the marines, Birdlace, falls in love with his date as the night progresses. When he returns from Vietnam some years later, he is greatly disillusioned by war and his former dreams of glory.
Dogfight was adapted for the stage in 2012 with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. It was performed in Vancouver in 2015 and won five Ovation awards, including for an Outstanding Community Production (small theatre) and for Outstanding Direction. It returns this year for five performances at Pacific Theatre under the helm of Chris Lam, who is returning as director.
This year, it is being brought back to the stage in an entirely new format.
“Every time you do a show, it’s completely new,” said Mark Dazlow, who plays a soldier named Bernstein. “This time around, it’s been really cool for seeing what comes out of the material just in terms of raw delivery.”
The set, designed by UBC theatre production graduate Carolyn Rapanos, is a very minimalistic one. It revolves around six multi-purpose stools, which can depict a bus one minute and a restaurant the next. With the help of hints in the script, the shifting postures of the actors’ bodies, and lighting techniques, the audience is able to come to their own conclusion about where a scene is taking place.
“It’s a little bit more avant-garde … people actually have to think,” said Montgomery. “We’re telling you a story, not putting on a show,” he added. “It’s a lot more grounded and just raw.”
The story being told is set in 1963, during an era of overt sexism, racism and misogyny, but also one with an underlying force of great change. Despite its era-specific narrative structure, Dogfight tackles a host of very contemporary social issues.
“Everyone should see [the show] because it brings up things that need to be addressed,” said Dazlow. “It’s definitely important to see those things and to see how far we’ve come since the 1960s […] but then also see what still is going on.”
With brilliant contemporary music, a tough political message and the intimate atmosphere of live theatre, Dogfight doesn’t pull any punches and is certainly not a musical to be missed.