Reflection On Theater Of War By Bryan Doerries
Throughout his book, Theater Of War, Doerries discusses the importance of Ancient Greek tragedies. These tragedies, like Philoctetes and Ajax, are powerful to such an extent, that audiences feel the emotion the characters are portraying. Soldiers who come back from war, often times bring with them PTSD. Doerries believes that this mental illness can be alleviated through the process of catharsis with the use Greek tragedies. “The persistence into civilian life, after danger, of the valid adaptations you made to stay alive when other people were trying to kill you”.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD, is a common side effect of war. Regularly, soldiers suffering from PTSD keep it to themselves because they see it as “unmanly” and “weak”. Because of this, mental illnesses were a taboo subject that is now becoming much more spoken about. Although reaching out to communities suffering from mental illnesses is difficult, since not everyone is willing to openly discuss the topic, people in the 21st century are definitely trying to reach out to communities. It’s important to let others know PTSD is a serious illness that can be alleviated. The negative effect of keeping it bottled up is that the problem becomes bigger. “‘You are either going to help me, or I am going to kill myself. ’ Less than an hour later an army doctor, a navy social worker, and three soldiers lay dead on the clinic floor”.
If Sergeant Russell had been appropriately helped, this tragic event could have been avoided. Other soldiers had noticed he was acting differently and becoming paranoid, if he would have been reported he could have been helped at a stage where he was not as ill. Helpful methods for coping with PTSD had not come to the surface. Many though PTSD was not a real illness and it could be fixed independently. “…combat veterans displaying the symptoms of mental illness and other related stress reactions were diagnosed with soldier’s heart or exhausted heart”. Doctors did not acknowledge this illness are real, so how could soldiers suffering from it feel accepted? Although there are new groundbreaking treatments for PTSD, there are still other mental illnesses that have yet to be acknowledged as real. “…tragedies were designed to elicit powerful emotional, biochemical, and physiological repsonces…”.
Greek tragedies like the ones mentioned earlier, can trigger the feeling of catharsis in a person that has experienced something traumatic. The Theater Of War project had this same intention, to provide a means of healing to those who always put their lives on the line, soldiers. While they were touring they were able to help multiple families who were silently struggling. One of the families, the Halls, were silently suffering with Mr. Halls’ depression which was making him lash out at his daughters and wife. Once they experienced the play, they related to Ajax and were able to speak their truth to others who had struggled through the same things. Because of this, audience members were able to open up about their own experiences. These tragedies connect people to the past but also to those around them now who are also struggling through similar hardships.
One of the tragedies in the book that touched me was Ajax. In 2016 I was at a very low point in my life where I felt worthless and alone. There was a day I was home alone and thought I would kill myself since I was home alone. I called my best friend and told him I felt like I did not want to live anymore. He instantly started telling me that I mattered and that he and my family would miss me. He was eventually able to talk me down and I will forever be thankful to him for it. While I read the lines; “I ask you to remember all the good times we had…”, my eyes watered. Just like Tecmessa, my best friend was asking me to stay alive because my family would miss me. Although depression and suicidal thoughts are extremely common, it is rarely spoken about.
Whenever I talk about my story, others can relate to some of the things I say and sometimes open up because they feel I will understand what they went or are going through. After the tragedies end, Doerries opens the floor to the audience so that they can share their story. As soon as one person shares their story, others follow. My experiences with talking my truth have similarities with Doerries practice, after I open up others feel confident in sharing their story.
