The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel

Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, The (1971), a play by David Rabe. [ Public Theatre, 363 perf.] A hand grenade thrown in a Vietnam brothel ends the life of an American soldier, Pavlo Hummel (William Atherton). Flashing back, Pavlo is seen joining the army, eager to be a soldier and a hero. His gaucheries and his patently tall stories make him a butt of ridicule, but he is undeterred. His sergeant, Tower (Joe Fields), represents the military establishment, which turns him into a benumbed orderly, while Ardell (Albert Hall), acting as an involved Greek chorus, comforts him and explains the often‐baffling world to him. At the end of the play his coffin sits alone on the stage. Hailed by Clive Barnes of the Times as introducing “a new and authentic voice to our theatre,” the Joe Papp production was the first in Rabe's trilogy on the war, the other plays being Sticks and Bones and Streamers. It employed the cinematic technique of short, quickly changing scenes to portray an unmitigated, often ugly, picture of war. As such it was a far cry from many more romantic earlier war plays. A Broadway revival starring Al Pacino was a hit in 1977.

David Rabe 1971

David Rabe’s The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel was the first American play of stature to deal with the experience of the Vietnam War. At least one historian of the Vietnam era, Philip Beidler writing in American Literature and the Experience of Vietnam, found that Rabe made “the most important contributions to the dramatic literature of Vietnam during the period 1970-75.” After being rejected by numerous regional and experimental theaters, the play was first produced professionally in 1971 at the Public Theatre by Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival, one of the country’s most prestigious production organizations. Rabe’s professional debut was a success: Pavlo Hummel enjoyed a run of 363 performances and received predominantly enthusiastic critical response. Clive Barnes of the New York Times acclaimed Rabe as a “new and authentic voice of our theatre.” For this play, Rabe received the Village Voice’s Obie Award for distinguished playwriting, and a Drama Desk Award for most promising playwright.

From trying to keep a journal during his military service in Vietnam, Rabe found that his experience there defied description, exceeding the capabilities of “language as mere symbol,” as he wrote in his introduction to Two Plays: The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and Sticks and Bones. Unwilling to bring his “full sensibility to bear upon all elements” of the experience, Rabe “skimmed over things and hoped they would skim over me.” In Rabe’s depiction, the Vietnam experience is a “sur-real carnival of death,” reflected in Pavlo’s extremely confused state of mind, and in the mood of expressionism throughout the play. The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel is not strictly an anti-war play; its author believes that war is inevitably a part of what he calls the “eternal human pageant.” Instead, Rabe examines the process of basic training as an American rite of passage, using his metaphor to illustrate the coercive power of the institution. Rabe himself called military basic training a metaphor for the “essential” training by which society reshapes all individuals.

Original Broadway poster. Due to popular demand, the limited run was extended to September 3.

The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel is a play by David Rabe.

Rabe's first play in his Vietnam War trilogy that continued with Sticks and Bones and Streamers, its story is bracketed by scenes depicting the death of the emotionally stunted and mentally disturbed title character, who mindlessly grabs at a live hand grenade tossed into the Saigon brothel he's visiting. A born loser who is drafted into the United States Army, Hummel immediately encounters difficulties with both his sergeants and fellow recruits, none of whom trust him. As he stumbles through basic training and closer to the battlefield, he is guided by Ardell, a mysteriously ambiguous character who seemingly is an officer but serves as Hummel's conscience and a Greek chorus-like figure as well. Although injured repeatedly, Hummel is so determined to be a soldier he passes up a chance to go home, a decision that ultimately proves fatal.

Under the auspices of the New York Shakespeare Festival, the off-Broadway production, directed by Jeff Bleckner, opened on May 19, 1971 at The Public Theater. The cast included William Atherton as Hummel and Albert Hall as Ardell, with Edward Herrmann, Garrett Morris, and Earl Hindman in supporting roles.

After eleven previews, the Broadway production, directed by David Wheeler, opened on 24 April 1977 at the Longacre Theatre, where it ran for 117 performances. The cast included Al Pacino as Hummel and Gustave Johnson as Ardell, with Paul Guilfoyle, Lance Henriksen, Brad Sullivan, and Joe Fields in supporting roles.

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 1971 Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Director –
• 1971 Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Playwright –
• 1971 Obie Award for Distinguished Direction – Jeff Bleckner
• 1971 Theatre World Award – William Atherton
• 1977 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play – Al Pacino
• 1977 Theatre World Award - Joe Fields
• 1977 Tony Award for Best Actor in Play – Al Pacino

Nominations

• 1977 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play – Joe Fields

External links

• The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel at the Internet Broadway Database
• The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel at the Internet off-Broadway Database

v • d • e Obie Award for plays Home Movies (1964) · The Indian Wants the Bronx (1968) · What the Butler Saw (1970) · The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel (1971) · Bad Habits / The Hot l Baltimore / When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? (1973) · Short Eyes (1974) · For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf (1975) · Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You (1979) · FOB (1980) · Spunk (1989) · Floyd Collins / Love! Valour! Compassion! (1995) · How I Learned to Drive / Rent / The Vagina Monologues (1996) · Golden Child / Hedwig and the Angry Inch (1998) · Bug / The Romance of Magno Rubio (2003) · A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant (2004) · Ruined (2009)

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