Alex: Dead Metaphor shatters the senses

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On stage at Hamilton’s Dofasco Centre for the Arts, the comedy/drama Dead Metaphor shatters the senses. Alex Reynolds reviews the Theatre Aquarius production.

The military’s ace sniper, back from the Afghan war, discovers home is just another war zone. His killing skills are are of no value in reintegrating into civilian life.

Playwright George F Walker says “I think it’s a misnomer to think or consider these guys who we send away thousands of miles away to fight wars or actually our army, they’re more our mercenaries. Certainly it’s not like in World War II where the whole country’s involved.”

“How many people on the streets of Hamilton or Toronto or Vancouver are thinking about Afghanistan, while Canadian soldiers were fighting and killing in Afghanistan?”

Free of post-traumatic stress and other war-related issues, Dean confronts personal family challenges. “This kid comes back, and he’s relatively OK. It’s the world that he comes back to is screwed up.”

“He can’t get a job, well why is that? And it’s not just that he has been a killer, it is that he is a killer, and he has that skill.”

Playwright Walker draws raw humor from the sociological consequences of war.

“He’s vulnerable, isn’t he? I mean you’ve got one skill, you have a kid on the way, and you’ve got a father who is suffering from frontal lobe dementia, and a mother who’s terrified of the results, you’re very vulnerable. So what do you do?”

Satire or reality, Walker indulges in both. The play ejects viewers from their comfort zones, to re-examine personal attitudes towards war.

After all, it’s a dark comedy where humor streams from life’s gloomy corners rather than its exaggerated situations. The cast responds with sharp shooting skill to the crackling demands of the script.

The Theatre Aquarius production is playing at Hamilton’s Dofasco Centre for the Arts through March 28th.