By Sophia Zikic

TW: Mentions of rape/non-consensual sex

The Intercollegiate Activities Council’s (ICAC) Dogfight opens to a young U.S. marine, Eddie Birdlace, grieving in the wake of the Vietnam war on a Greyhound bus bound for Los Angeles. The audience witnesses his pain and his hope to reconnect with a waitress called Rose whom he knew four years ago. He is trapped in a conversation with a fellow traveler and begins to reminisce about his time in Los Angeles with his two closest friends on the eve of their deployment.

While the performances of the cast are overwhelmingly strong, Dogfight (premiering in 2012 Off-Broadway) is a romantic depiction of the 60’s disguised as a scintillating critique, packaged in a musical with a few memorable songs.

The plot of the piece never loses direction, and it is always clear what the stakes are, and what the motivations are of each character. However, there are a myriad of implications that the narrative raises without seeing to any meaningful end. Most prominently is Dogfight’s engagement with the era-accurate misogyny and toxic masculinity.

There is a scene in which a character, in his attempt to complete a series of male rites of passage, tries to rape a prostitute. Birdlace defends her, but in her desperation to prevent any further violence, the character agrees to have sex with her assaulter. Of course, the act still qualifies as non-consensual because she agrees out of fear. This is described by another character as the way that these things go – men are predatory, women are preyed upon. The assault is also framed as something that Birdlace is appalled by, and therefore, something that the audience should also be appalled by.

However, in the next scene that these characters appear (the man who assaulted the prostitute, and the man who claimed that that was simply how the world is), they are thrown back into their musical-theatre comedy personas, singing songs about their brotherhood and dancing the twist. The character that assaulted the prostitute is now afraid of a tattoo needle, and this is played up for laughs.

A perspective as nuanced as “rapists aren’t inhuman monsters and can be both charming and violent” does not seem to be what Dogfight is trying to communicate. There is no self-awareness in this juxtaposing scene. Rather, it seems as if Dogfight wanted to comment on the misogyny of the 60’s, without sacrificing their likeable musical theatre cast. After all, it isn’t nearly as fun to sing along to songs sung by rapists, if their violence is at the forefront of your mind. With this perspective, it was difficult to feel much for these characters as they left for war, especially since none face real consequences for their actions.

The final scenes fly by, and it feels as if there is too much ground to cover in too little time. The Three B’s time at war, for instance, is a short albeit intense scene in which multiple characters die. They have barely fallen in death before they reappear onstage for the final overture. Other musicals, such as Heathers and Les Miserables, have used a similar theatrical technique, and yet, there is far more time between the deaths of these characters and their reappearance as beloved dead. There is also more time dedicated to the grief of their loved ones, something that is barely touched on in the last few scenes of the play.

Similarly, Rose’s emotional reunion with Birdlace has barely begun before it has ended. Her anger and his PTSD are forgotten in the face of their love, leaving the audience whiplashed and scrambling to follow the action while the cast emerges on stage for their bows.

It would be dishonest to suggest that the musical was not enjoyable. The performance of lead actress Ela Salisbury as Rose Fenny was heartfelt and communicated Rose’s strength and self-consciousness in believable equal measure. Boland (one of Birdlace’s friends, and member of the central “Three Bs” squad, named for the alliterative surnames of each Marine) played by Lachie Trappett was a particularly strong actor. His simmering rage was palpable even when he was being congenial. Charlie Duffus, who played the waiter, gave an excellent comic performance, made all the better by its subtlety.

Though it is difficult to articulate exactly how, the orchestra, led by conductor Louis Ajani, was very good. At least to the untrained ear, there was not a note out of place, and the passion of the players could be clearly observed when watching them. Their presence upstage where they were easily visible behind the actors was perhaps a necessity of the small space but was welcome. Unfortunately, the sound mixing was not always perfect, and on occasion the voices of some of the actors were drowned out by the instrumentation.

Dogfight is an overall enjoyable experience. Admittedly, the cast was talented, with some standout performances. However, it is difficult to remember the musical’s most politically charged moments without becoming bewildered by its implications.