Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Staff Report
“We will be watching you.” These were the words audience members were greeted to at the beginning of the play “Slaughter of the Innocents,” which was performed at Fresno State in the John Wright Theater October 3-5, and 7-11. The play is about the horrific dealings that occur when government anarchy takes complete control of its citizen’s lives. Fear, violence, death, loss of freedom, and the triumph over dictatorship are just a few of the themes expressed in this play.
The “Slaughter of the Innocents” was written in 1958 by famed literary figure and Fresno native William Saroyan as a reaction to the McCarthy trials and the Red scare of the 1940s and 1950s.
To help celebrate the centennial of Saroyan, the William Saroyan Centennial Committee approached the Fresno State Theatre Arts Department to put on a Saroyan production. Dr. Edward EmanuEl, who has been with Fresno State for 40 years, seized the opportunity to direct a Saroyan play. Dr. EmanuEl chose “Slaughter of the Innocents” because it had never been performed before on the west coast and it was a challenge to portray all of the dramatic elements in the play. “Saroyan uses three different dramatic styles: realism, expression, and absurdism. It was a real challenge to take three different dramatic styles in one play,” said Dr. EmanuEl.
In order to undertake such a task, the cast and crew spent four weeks of rehearsal. The challenge paid off because the “Slaughter of the Innocents” was superbly performed by a talented group of over 30 actors. The play takes place at Christmas, somewhere in the Caribbean, in Archie Crookshank’s bar. Archie’s bar has been seized by the government known as The Republic. The Republic turned Archie’s bar into a Court of Justice where anything but justice takes place. In his bar, Archie’s three tables are used for the attorneys and the bailiff. The pool table is turned into the judge’s throne, which he sits on top of with a chair. A flag is placed on his left side and standing on either side of the pool table are menacing looking soldiers with machine guns. The bar, once a place of recreation, becomes a place of doom.
Panic and fear are expressed by 39 people who are found guilty of committing such “heinous” acts as being unemployed or writing a bad review of a play. These people are then killed in thirty seconds in a form of hysteria with blue and red lights flickering on and off and gunshots constantly sounding off-stage.
In the center of these killings are Archie and Rose, whose characters come alive on stage through the extraordinarily talented Fresno State seniors, James Taylor and Ferin Petrelli. The fear, anger, and hopelessness these two characters experienced resonated with the audience members. Archie and Rose are just ordinary people who want their lives back, especially Archie, who wants his bar back. “Archie wants his routine back, his life back, but the government won’t give him that,” said Taylor.
Rose is an alcoholic teenager who uses Archie as her surrogate father so the government cannot convict her of being an enemy of the state. Rose finds a way to overcome her own troubles by comforting those who are found guilty. “Rose matures throughout the play, at the beginning she was in a desperate state, but then she realizes there’s something more important than herself,” noted Ferin Petrelli, who this summer became a national finalist at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
One especially touching scene was when Rose handed a cigarette to Joseph, an accused man found guilty by the court. All of the accused are issued a cigarette and a drink before they are murdered. Rose is so distraught, that the minute she hands him the cigarette, the cigarette drops to the floor. As she stoops down to pick up the cigarette, he goes down with her and puts his hand under her chin to bring her up. The moment he touches her face, the audience can feel the pain these two are experiencing.
Archie and Rose do not interfere with the proceedings of the corrupt court justice, as they do not want to become enemies of the state. At this time the accused man Joseph, who touched Rose’s chin, stands defiantly, with his head up and says, “Happy Birthday,” and “get born.” After he says this, he is taken by the soldiers and is shot outside of Archie’s bar.
The sayings “Happy Birthday” and “get born” have a religious connotation in this aspect because the play is set during Christmas. To set the play during Christmas was the Theatre Arts Department’s decision, as the original script was not set in a specific time of the year.
The climatic scene takes place when the court finds an eight-year-old boy guilty and sentences him to death. The boy’s crime is that he hates his parents and The Republic. The boy remains calm, but Archie remains calm no longer. As he attempts to take back control of his bar, all of a sudden, a new directive is issued to the courtroom that states that all court officials must change places with the accused and be tried as the accused. The system becomes topsy-turvy once more, but unlike the old court officials, the new court officials find the accused “guilty of being alive!” Once again, the court officials change places with the accused, but before the judge can kill the little boy, Archie runs across the bar and breaks a bottle over the judge’s head. The court is adjourned and the little boy leaves with his father. As the rest of the people await their fate, they shed tears of relief and joy as Christmas music resonates in the background.
The play leaves one stunned and makes one think about their own life. The ultimate point of the play is that people are responsibility for preserving democracy, and if they do not, then the government “will be watching you.” “Slaughter of the Innocents” is a shocking play that holds true to its name.
The play, according to Dr. EmanuEl, is not at all like William Saroyan. But, the point of the Saroyan Centennial is to show the many different sides of Saroyan’s work. “People will always be interested in Saroyan. He’s a great storyteller because he writes about the human condition.”