The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel is a play by David Rabe.
Rabe's first play in his Vietnam War trilogy that continued with Sticks and Bones and Streamers, its story is bracketed by scenes depicting the death of the emotionally stunted and mentally disturbed title character, who mindlessly grabs at a live hand grenade tossed into the Saigon brothel he's visiting. A born loser who is drafted into the United States Army, Hummel immediately encounters difficulties with both his sergeants and fellow recruits, none of whom trust him. As he stumbles through basic training and comes ever closer to the battlefield, he is guided by Ardell, a mysteriously ambiguous character who seemingly is an officer but serves as Hummel's conscience and a Greek chorus-like figure as well. Although injured repeatedly, Hummel is so determined to be a soldier he passes up a chance to go home, a decision that ultimately proves fatal.
Under the auspices of the New York Shakespeare Festival, the off-Broadway production, directed by Jeff Bleckner, opened on May 19, 1971 at The Public Theater. The cast included William Atherton as Hummel, Albert Hall as Ardell, and Joe Fields as Sgt. Tower
For the Broadway production, Pavlo Hummel was brought to the Longacre Theatre in April 1977, directed by David Wheeler. Previews began on April 14 and ran for eleven performances before opening on April 24, 1977 for 117 performances. The cast included Al Pacino as Hummel, Gustave Johnson as Ardell, and Joe Fields reprising his role as Sgt. Tower.
Read more about The Basic Training Of Pavlo Hummel: Awards and Nominations
Famous quotes containing the words basic and/or training:
“Justice begins with the recognition of the necessity of sharing. The oldest law is that which regulates it, and this is still the most important law today and, as such, has remained the basic concern of all movements which have at heart the community of human activities and of human existence in general.”
—Elias Canetti (b. 1905)
“Dancing is a wonderful training for girls, it’s the first way you learn to guess what a man is going to do before he does it.”
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957)