HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING by American Will Arbery premiered in New York in 2019. It was an immediate success and became a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Australia’s Outhouse Theatre Company has brought the play to Sydney. It may not translate easily to Australia. This two-hour two-act piece covers much of America’s conservative politics. Who in Australia remembers the rise of Barry Goldwater or the significance of William F. Buckley and the other conservative icons discussed by the characters?
Four former students of the Transfiguration College of Wyoming, a conservative Catholic school, meet in a backyard, the only setting. Emily is a disabled young woman. Her mother has just been elected as the President of the school and the four meet to celebrate the occasion. Teresa has moved to New York to work in media. She believes she lives among the dreaded corrupt anti-conservatives. She is the hypocritical polemicist, espousing anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-progressive rhetoric she copies from the likes of Trump’s associate Steve Bannon.
Kevin is the mostly inarticulate bumbler complaining about his need to masturbate. Yet he asks the most obvious question, “Why can’t Christians test their faith by befriending the enemy instead of hating them?” No one listens to him. He drinks, spews and finally crumbles. The older Justin is the silent type, except when he promotes his idea for guns to be allowed in the school. The disabled Emily is generally silent and compassionate until she spits the dummy and bitterly complains about her lot in life, as well she might being surrounded by these confused super conservatives. Emily once worked in Chicago for a family planning women’s advocacy group. She counters Teresa’s the pro-life rhetoric. There is much loud arguing about abortion and Catholicism.
And what is the Fourth Turning they are heroes for? It is the millennia-old creation-destruction Vishnu-Shiva scenario. The first stage of society is the status quo; the second turning is the questioning of the status quo; the third is destruction of established society and the fourth is the creation of a new status quo. Theresa believes America is on the cusp of a war, the conservatives against those who would tear down society. She will be one of the heroes of the Fourth Turning, saving America from the gays, the liberals and anyone who disagrees with her. Then in the second act, the new President of the school enters. She represents a more balanced position but within the strict constraints of her conservative Catholic view of the world.
The play was written in 2017, just after a vehicle drove through a crowd in Virginia, killing and maiming. The driver was a conservative attempting to destroy the heathens, and obviously a distressed soul. In the play, this event sparks the discussion about the limits of conservatism but not a debate about the dangers of their beliefs.
There are three loud explosions during the course of the play. Justin claims it is his generator misfiring. We know it isn’t that. It is over-the-top symbolism for imminent danger. When he confesses that his generator isn’t broken and that his house has spooks, the others hardly react. It is as if they expect a crisis and the end of civilisation as they know it. Unseen, unnatural forcers haunt them.
There are a few short brilliant speeches in the play. The acting is absolutely outstanding. The characters are finely honed and believable. But the story falls into an abyss of tired debates and repetitive double-talk that goes nowhere and ends with no closure.
Heroes of the Fourth Turning probably means a great deal more to weary Americans embedded in the U.S. political quagmire. It may speak to a few Australians. But as a play, it loses its grip on storyline or character development. Too bad, because it so well acted.
Playwright Will Arbery
Director Craig Baldwin
Actors: Micaela Ellis, Eddie Orton, Madeleine Jones, Kate Raison and Jeremy Waters
Heroes of the Fourth Turning
On until April 23, Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre
Running time is two hours.
Review by Carol Dance