Word: begbick
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...thrust upon hits because the soldiers fear annihilation by their brutish sergeant, Bloody Five, whom pleasure is in others' punishment. Though his bluster and machismo parody his he-man style, Bloody Five is in truth as cruel as his nickname. His power overwhelms everyone but the camp follower, Widow Begbick. She knows the weakness intrinsic to all men especially strong ones, and eventually triggers Five's disgrace. Bloody Five's bravura balances Galy's passive foolishness. As surely as the latter metamorphoses into the army beast, the former weakens and falls. It's grim stuff of which to make laughter...
...chance to show his evolution. As Bloody Five, Tim Manna struts and bellows, though in his efforts to growl, his lines occasionally garble. Marty Shofner, Richard Bertelson, and Steve Craddock make a good Three Stooges team, and their casual violence fits their uniforms. By avoiding Widow Begbick's slattern stereotype, Claudia Carter does Brecht's characterization one better. Parkman Howe, as a monk cum con artist, skitters away with his part of the show. He turns that original missing private into a God then, with religio-carnival patter, fobs him off on the masses. One wishes Brecht had written...
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