This is the European premiere of ‘9 Circles’, by ‘House Of Cards’ writer Bill Cain and ‘The Shark Is Broken’ director Guy Masterson. Intense, inquisitive, and often extremely hard to watch, it’s a brilliantly acted story following a convicted war criminal during the US and Iraq conflict – but at times, it all feels too much.
Stubborn 19-year-old Texas soldier Daniel Reeves Joshua Collins) was accused of brutally killing a family in Iraq, before raping and murdering a young girl and setting fire to her body. It’s heavy stuff. Reeves had to get a moral waiver to enrol in the army in the first place, and it becomes clear that he’s aggressive in nature and mentally disturbed.
As he awaits his fate, we meet lawyers, a minister, and a war psychiatrist, and another narrative emerges. ‘I don’t think it’s a war, it’s just violence,’ the psychiatrist admits. Who was really responsible for the crime: Reeves, or the politicians who sent him to war? How can men be trained to ruthlessly kill on behalf of their country, but still be expected to retain any degree of morality, or even sanity?
Two red-lit circles frame the stage, trapping the characters in the trauma and echoing the play’s structure, which follows Dante’s nine circles of hell. It’s pretty appropriate imagery: the characters are jarring and the story is deeply disturbing, especially when you learn it’s based on real-life events.
Some of the scenes feel rushed while others seemed to drag on without making any real points. It also becomes impossible to feel any sympathy for Reeves, despite the possibility that the events could all be a product of his tormented mind. We’re not given enough space to breathe or really process the crime, making it all the more difficult for the story to find a balance with its political message.
In the finale, Reeves grapples with his consuming guilt in the last moments of his life. But it’s too long and strung-out to have any resonating final effect, and there’s something troubling about the way it treats the words of his victim. Despite some incredible acting, this unsettling story needs a bit of editing and a shed more sympathy for its desired message to properly shine through.
