Vietnam Protest Theatre: The Television War on Stage by Nora M. Alter (review)

Book Reviews NORA M. ALTER. Vietnam Protest Theatre: The Television War on Stage. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press 1996. pp. 225· $29·95 In Vietnam Protest Theatre: The Television War on Stage, Nora M. Alter attempts both to organize the large body of Vietnam protest drama and to set it neatly into a firm theoretical context. In doing so, she acknowledges the extreme complications of such an endeavor as well as the need for further research . The following is her accurate and complete (as well ·as succinct) description of her work: Following an introduction ... - which establishes some of the key tenns and concepts to be used around the category of the "vision," and lack thereof, possessed by playwrights and scholars with regard to the war - the book has two main parts. Part One ... analyzes symptomatic examples ofVietnam Protest Theatre in four chapters dealing with the United Slates, Britain and Austria (brought together as two "contestations from the periphery"), Germany, and France. The common thread in this part is the way different national cultures attempted. while referring to Vietnam. to work through certain problems in their own national past.... Part Two, "Mis/representing the Inappropriated Other," takes its title from Vietnamese filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha, specifically from her attempt to construct a notion of "Otherness" that would be clearly "inappropriate" for the forces of global domination but also "inappropriateable" by them. (xxiv) In the first portion of the book, Alter analyzes, in detail, the content and point of view of many of the most obvious examples of Vietnam protest drama, including Macbird, Viet Rock, and Ok, What a Lovely War. Though dividing Modern Drama, 40 (1997) 422 Book Reviews 423 these plays geographically is for the most part effective, these analyses are muddied by her attempt to connect each play to the culture from which it comes. A cultural analysis of these plays, the most interesting aspect of this study, is not given enough background to be fully effective. Part Two, the more "theoretical" of the two, includes analyses of still more plays such as Fuck Nam, Pinkerville, and the Rabe trilogy. Here, utilizing a clear theoretical base, Alter's study gains focus. Using Trinh T. Minh-ha's definition of "otherness' and describing various forms of "de-humanization," Alter finds the "teeth" in these plays. Trinh's work could serve as a focal point in Part One of Alter's analysis. Finally, the most interesting aspects of this study are found in its conclusion and epilogue. The conclusion, entitled "Re-Acting to the Television War," opens a dialogue about the coexistence among three important elements of contemporary society: television, theatre, and current events. How the three intertwine has yet to be studied, and Alter uses her analysis of these plays to open a door to such research. The epilogue, though only twelve pages long, contains much fascinating information. Entitled "Antimedia: Vietnamese Theatre as Pacific Resistance," it concerns itself with the Vietnamese perspective on the war, particularly that of the Viet Cong, as well as the theatre which arises from this perspective. Again, however, not enough space is given to describe or analyze this material fully. In conclusion, Nora M. Alter attempts many things in this book. What she most notably achieves is a whetting of our appetites for more information and more analysis on this topic. This, it seems, is her purpose. She states: "A more specific remark about methodology. Just as the reader should not expect an exhaustive discussion of all the relevant Vietnam Protest Plays, nor should she or he expect a detailed close analysis ofeach play I do consider"; "I would hope that my understated use of theory, my principle of selecting texts, and my critical method will help us to be critical of this perhaps inevitable leap to culture from other social determinations as it occurs on the Vie~nam protest stage in several theatrical forms and national languages" (xxii). DANIEL-RAYMOND NADON, KENT STATE UNIVERSITY-TRUMBULL CAMPUS MICHAEL BILLINGTON. The Lifeand Work o/HaroldPinter. London: Faberand Faber 1996. Pp. 414· $39·99 Michael Billington's The Life and Work o/Harold Pinter is the first authorized biographical study of the dramatist. This makes the...