Cry Havoc: A Play in Three Acts

by Allan Richard Kenward

Hailed as a female Journey's End, this is the story of nurses on Bataan. In a sort of dugout subjected to gunfire the individual characters emerge to offer a collective reaction to war. These include the strong minded doctor, her restrained and poised assistant and the volunteer a vacuous Southern girl, a swaggering bully, a couple of timid aesthetes, an ex burlesque girl and the inevitable spy. They get on each other's nerves, arrest the wrong person for spying and confront the real traitor. They are rescued from their buried dugout only to face the firing squad. This is a compelling, caustic revelation of human beings under fire.

Genres: Plays

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Gabrielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the most melodramatic shows I've ever done.

Great roles for women, but who can forget the Russian spy? The possible lesbian? The British war-hungry she-wolf? And one of them has to be on some sort of medication.

Yet, there are moments of humor as twelve women face a war that they didn't sign up for, but they face it together.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost gave this an extra star simply because it's full of women's roles, which are still inexplicably hard to come by, in this, the second decade of the 21st century *sigh*. Anyway, the script has potential: a bunch of nurses trying to survive in WWII. And one of them may or may not be a lesbian (oh yeah!). Where it falls flat is in the implementation. All are caricatures, which is probably to be expected in a play written by a man in the early 1940s. Problem is, the dang thing is *still* being performed in community theaters all over the country. Really folks, contrary to what you might think, there are *plenty* of scripts overflowing with amazing women's roles (and their experiences in war, if that's what you want) that far exceed this one.