The line “Cry havoc! and let slip the dogs of war” comes from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. At the time, the line was even more evocative than it is now, because the last word was pronounced like “warr,” sounding like the snarl of a dog. That line also gives its title to Stephan Wolfert’s one-man show Cry Havoc!, in which the U.S. Army veteran-turned-actor brings a real-life experience that many Shakespeare scholars do not possess to the Bard’s works.
Wolfert served during the Persian Gulf War and saw his best friend seriously wounded in action. Adrift in Montana, the Wisconsin native happened to buy a ticket to a production of Richard III and found Shakespeare’s words about war speaking to his own experience. Over time, he developed the show as a way of working through his conflicted feelings, his disgust with war’s effects coupled with his attraction to the excitement of the fight. The show is his portrait of himself finding characters as different as Falstaff, Othello, and Macbeth capturing different facets of a soldier’s life and helping bring some sense to his own. Wolfert comes to Amphibian Stage Productions to perform his play.
Cry Havoc! runs May 11-27 at Amphibian Stage Productions, 120 S Main St, FW. Tickets are $25-100. Call 817-923-3012.
