The Caine Mutiny Court Martial
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is a two-act play by Herman Wouk, which he adapted from his own novel, The Caine Mutiny.
Wouk's novel covered a long stretch of time aboard the USS Caine, a Navy minesweeper in the Pacific. It begins with Willis Keith's assignment to the Caine, chronicles the mismanagement of the ship under Philip Francis Queeg, explains how Steve Maryk relieved Queeg of command, gives an account of Maryk's court-martial, and describes the aftermath of the mutiny for all involved.
The play covers only the court-martial itself. Like jurors at a trial, the audience knows only what various witnesses tell it of the events on the Caine.
Contents |
[edit] Production history
The play was first presented by Paul Gregory in the Granada Theatre, Santa Barbara, California, on October 12, 1953 and then went on tour across the United States before being given its first performance on Broadway at the Plymouth Theatre on 20 January 1954 in a production directed by Charles Laughton, with Henry Fonda and John Hodiak. Lloyd Nolan played Queeg. It ran for 415 performances.
It was revived in 1983 at the Stamford Center for the Arts, Stamford, Connecticut and then at the Circle in the Square Theatre in a production directed by Arthur Sherman with John Rubinstein and Michael Moriarty and again in 2006 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in a production directed by Jerry Zaks, starring Zeljko Ivanek, Timothy Daly and David Schwimmer as Queeg.
[edit] Characters
- Steve Maryk: Queeg's second-in-command on the Caine, and the officer who relieved Queeg of duty
- Barney Greenwald: Maryk's defense attorney
- Willis Keith: a junior officer on the Caine
- Lt. Commander Philip Francis Queeg: commanding officer of the Caine
- Tom Keefer: an erudite, educated junior officer on the Caine
- John Challee: the prosecutor
- Randolph Southard: a Navy captain, called as an expert witness
- Dr. Bird & Dr. Lundeen: a pair of psychiatrists called to testify about Queeg's mental fitness
- Junius Urban: a young signalman on the Caine, called as a witness to the mutiny
[edit] Synopsis
The action takes place in The General Court-Martial Room of the Twelfth Naval District, San Francisco and in the banquet room of the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco in February, 1945.
[edit] Act 1
Steve Maryk is on trial for mutiny, because he relieved Lt. Commander Philip Francis Queeg of duty during a typhoon. Maryk insists that Queeg was insane, and that his paranoid delusions were putting the ship in danger. Maryk took command and steered the Caine directly INTO the storm (the opposite of what Queeg wanted). The Caine and her entire crew survived, which Maryk thinks is proof that he acted appropriately.
Maryk's lawyer, Barney Greenwald, indicates that he thinks Maryk was guilty, but is determined to offer a strong defense nonetheless.
Philip Francis Queeg is the first witness for the prosecution. He states that, while the Caine was going through a typhoon, Steve Maryk, a disloyal and digruntled officer, rebelled against him and relieved him of command without justification.
At this stage, Queeg seems like a typical tough military disciplinarian- perhaps a bit too tough, but there is no good reason to think he has psychological problems. He's confident and articulate, and seems to be in full possession of his faculties.
Young signalman Junius Urban, who was present on the bridge at the time Maryk took control, is called to testify about what happened. Urban provides comic relief, as he is extremely nervous and confused about exactly what happened. His testimony tells the jury very little, but on cross-examination he lets slip that Queeg was "a nut" on numerous small matters of discipline and tidiness.
Randolph Southard, an experienced naval officer, testifies that, under the weather circumstances described on the night of the mutiny, Queeg took all the proper measures, and did exactly what a commanding officer should have done. Thus, in Southard's view, Maryk's actions were completely unjustified. However, under cross examination from Greenwald, Southard concedes that there are rare, extreme circumstances under which sailing directly into the storm would be the only way to avoid sinking.
A pair of psychiatrists who have examined Queeg testify that, while Queeg is not an ideal officer (he can be arrogant, overly defensive, nervous, and a bit of a bully), he is not mentally ill. Under cross-examination from Greenwald, however, they acknowledge that some of Queeg's traits come close to the textbook definition of paranoia.
Willis Keith, a friend of Maryk's, testifies as to the events leading to the mutiny. Keith says that Queeg was a coward, that he was giving panicky, conflicting orders during the typhoon, requiring Maryk to take action. During cross-examination, Greenwald gets Keith to tell numerous stories of Queeg's ineptness, vanity, dishonesty, pettiness and seeming cowardice (one such incident led the crew to give Queeg the nickname "Old Yellowstain").
Tom Keefer, another friend of Maryk's, is a much less helpful witness from the defense standpoint. Keefer, an intellectual and aspiring writer, indicates that Queeg was not insane, and that Maryk was ill-advised to relieve him of command. Maryk is stunned by Keefer's betrayal (to a large extent, Keefer was the one who convinced Maryk that Queeg was insane in the first place), and wants Greenwald to cross-examine him vigorously. Instead, Greenwald has no questions for Keefer.
As the trial goes to recess, Maryk expresses dissatisfaction with Greenwald's defense. Greenwald explains that he has good reasons for not asking Keefer any questions, and states once again that he thinks Maryk is guilty. Even if Queeg was far from an ideal officer, Greenwald believes, Maryk's first duty was to carry on fighting the war, and doing his best to keep the Caine in action. All authority figures tend to look like irrational tyrants to their subordinates, Greenwald says, whether they are or not.
[edit] Act 2
[edit] Scene 1
As Greenwald begins his defense, he calls Steve Maryk as a witness.
Maryk explains in great detail what a petty, vindictive, isolated and paranoid commander Queeg was. In particular, Maryk dwells on "The Strawberry Incident", which convinced much of the crew that Queeg was insane (the mess boys ate some strawberries from the kitchen. When Queeg discovered that some of the strawberries were missing, he deduced that there was a grand conspiracy to steal them, and launched a full search of the ship for a secret pantry key that Queeg imagined the thief must have created). Finally, Maryk describes the events of the night of the mutiny. Maryk says the Caine was foundering, on the verge of sinking, and that Queeg was too frightened and paranoid to take the proper steps to save the ship. Only at this most desperate moment did Maryk see fit to take command. After the ship was out of danger, Maryk wrote a full account of his actions in the ship's log. He claims that Queeg came to him and proposed erasing this embarrassing incident from the log- a serious breach of Naval ethics. Maryk refused to do so, electing to take full responsibility for his actions.
The prosecuting attorney asks Maryk about his background. Maryk answers that he is a fisherman's son, and has been around boats his whole life. However, Maryk was only an average student in high school and a poor student in college. It becomes clear that, while Maryk uses words like "paranoid," he doesn't really know much about psychology, and was not qualified to judge anyone's mental health.
At this point, Greenwald calls Queeg as a defense witness. Under intense cross-examination, Queeg is asked to justify each and every one of his questionable actions as commander of the Caine. He becomes nervous and testy, and starts playing with a pair of steel balls that he uses to control his nerves. He tells a few small lies to cover up petty offenses. When his lies are revealed, his demeanor changes, and he becomes angry and combative. When asked about Maryk's charge that Queeg had wanted to alter the ship's log, an enraged Queeg rants that he was surrounded by disloyal officers, and looks exactly like the panicky paranoid that Maryk had described.
When the defense rests, Queeg is a broken man, and everyone present knows that Maryk will be acquitted. Maryk is ecstatic, and invites Geenwald to a celebration party that Tom Keefer is hosting later that evening (it seems that Keefer has written a novel about the war, entitled "Multitudes, Multitudes," and has received a big advance from a publisher). Greenwald looks dejected, far from triumphant, but agrees to attend the party.
[edit] Scene 2
(at a party)
Keefer, Keith, Maryk and their friends are celebrating merrily, when Greenwald walks in, heavily intoxicated. Greenwald proposes a toast to "Old Yellowstain." Unlike the Caine's junior officers, Greenwald feels deep regret over what he did to Queeg on the witness stand. To Greenwald, Queeg and career military men like him are heroic figures, since they're the ones putting their lives on the line to defend America. Greenwald is Jewish, and understands what the ramifications will be if the Axis wins World War 2.
Greenwald feels sorry for Queeg, because he sees that Queeg was not wrong about being surrounded by disloyal officers. Greenwald believes that Tom Keefer is the guiltiest party in the whole affair! Maryk, after all, did not know anything about psychology. Where would he have obtained his half-formed ideas about paranoia and mental illness, if not from Keefer?
Greenwald defended Maryk to the best of his abilities because he saw that Maryk was a decent man trying to do the right thing. Keefer, on the other hand, was an upper-class intellectual snob who regarded himself as superior to the blue-collar Queeg, and helped turn Maryk and the rest of the crew against him. Greenwald suggests that Maryk could have reasoned with Queeg, if Keefer hadn't poisoned the atmosphere.
Greenwald denounces Keefer, and tosses a drink in his face, before walking out of the party.
[edit] Trivia
Robert Altman directed a made-for-television version of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial with Eric Bogosian playing Barney Greenwald.
Former New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath played Steve Maryk in a Broadway revival of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial in 1984.
