Reviewed by:

• The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe
• Jared Strange

There were times when Philadelphia Theatre Company’s (PTC’s) The Wolves could be quite overwhelming. The production was streamed into homes everywhere following the cancellation of its indoor engagement early in the pandemic, a move that forced the nine girls on its eponymous indoor soccer team off the stage and into all-too-familiar Brady Bunch Zoom boxes. Playwright Sarah DeLappe’s symphony of teenage chatter, rarely limited to a single conversational stream, now gushed out of a wall of talking heads. Throughout the opening minutes of my first viewing, my eyes darted back and forth across my laptop screen in a mostly futile attempt to identify who was talking and to whom. Eventually, my attention rested on lonely #46 (Emma Lenderman), occupying the center box with a quiet desperation akin to my own. I later came to appreciate her astute positioning: it alerted me to the sense of isolation that this production brought out in DeLappe’s play that others might not have.

The nine members of the Wolves, an indoor soccer team, pose for a photograph using orange slices brought by #14’s mom. This is a screenshot from the streaming production of The Wolves, presented by Philadelphia Theatre Company. (Source: Chris Swetcky was the director of photography.)

Prior to viewing PTC’s version, I would have said that any successful production of The Wolves depends on an abundance of space and respect for how it shapes the girls’ sociality. In her preface to the Overlook Press edition, DeLappe highlights the importance of the indoor arena in which the play takes place, noting that it both insulates the Wolves from the outer world, for good and for ill, and gives them a slice of AstroTurf to call their own. The play unfolds across that turf through a series of pre-match warm-up sessions. Each session acts as a slice of the team’s life, showcasing, among other things, the integration of a new member, the breakdown of a friendship, the rising stakes of each [End Page 249] subsequent game, and the aftermath following the death of a teammate. Embodied in this production by an excellent cast under the direction of Nell Bang-Jensen, the girls use these sessions to negotiate the slippery terrain of late adolescence: sexual maturation and its horrors, pressure to achieve on the pitch and in life, the politics of post-genocide Cambodia, and so on. Despite being known primarily by their squad numbers, each girl is distinctly drawn, albeit with the aid of archetypal shaping. #7 (Hannah Gaffney) is talented, tough, and crass; she and able sidekick #14 (Iraisa Ann Reilly) clash with #25 (Tori Lewis), the driven and dutiful captain. #8 (Margaret Morgan) is earnest and willfully childish, unlike #11 (Donovan Lockett), the daughter of therapists and the picture of “mature for her age.” #13 (Annika Cowles) self-consciously leans into her goofiness, while #2 (Alison Ormsby) and #00 (Michelle Tsai) occupy the outskirts of the group, the former religious and possibly anorexic, the latter overcommitted and anxious. Then there is #46, the perennial new girl, whose cockeyed perspective and air of mystery belie a natural talent for the Beautiful Game. Apart from the grief-stricken Soccer Mom (Leah Walton) who appears in the final scene, the girls’ huddle exists undisturbed by outsiders.

Hannah Gaffney (#7), Michelle Tsai (#00), and Tori Lewis (#25) in a promotional photograph for The Wolves, presented by Philadelphia Theatre Company. (Photo: Anthony Werhun.)

While we never see them in action on the pitch, having the space to literally stretch out typically gives the play both its athletic bona fides and that sense of insularity. The Goodman Theatre’s 2018 production in Chicago, for example, staged the play in its arena space and employed a low wall and nets around the stage, outlining the girls’ bubble and allowing them to kick the ball with little fear of causing an incident. Naturally, PTC’s Zoom setup could...

审核人：

• Sarah DeLappe的狼群
• 贾里德·斯特兰奇

有时，费城剧院公司 (PTC) 的The Wolves可能会让人不知所措。在大流行初期取消室内活动后，这部影片在各地的家庭中流传开来，此举迫使同名室内足球队的九名女孩离开舞台，进入大家熟悉的布雷迪·布奇 (Brady Bunch)缩放框。剧作家莎拉·德拉普 (Sarah DeLappe) 的青少年喋喋不休交响曲，很少局限于一个单一的对话流，现在从一堵谈话的墙上涌出。在我第一次观看的开场几分钟里，我的眼睛在笔记本电脑屏幕上来回扫视，试图确定谁在说话，和谁说话，这几乎是徒劳的。最终，我的注意力集中在孤独的#46 (Emma Lenderman) 身上，带着一种类似于我自己的安静的绝望占据了中间的包厢。后来我开始欣赏她精明的定位：它让我意识到这部作品在 DeLappe 的戏剧中所带来的孤立感，这是其他人可能没有的。

狼队的九名成员，一个室内足球队，用#14 的妈妈带来的橙色切片摆姿势拍照。这是费城剧院公司提供的The Wolves流媒体制作的屏幕截图。（来源：Chris Swetcky 是摄影指导。）

在查看 PTC 的版本之前，我会说狼队的任何成功制作都取决于丰富的空间以及对它如何塑造女孩社交的尊重。在 Overlook Press 版的序言中，DeLappe 强调了演出所在的室内场地的重要性，并指出它既使狼队与外部世界隔绝，无论是好是坏，并​​为他们提供了一片 AstroTurf叫自己。比赛通过一系列赛前热身赛在这片草地上展开。每个会议都是团队生活的一部分，展示了新成员的融合、友谊的破裂、每个人的风险增加等[End Page 249]随后的比赛，以及队友死亡后的后果。在这部由内尔·邦-詹森 (Nell Bang-Jensen) 指导下的优秀演员出演的这部作品中，女孩们利用这些课程来应对青春期后期的滑坡：性成熟及其恐怖、在球场上和生活中取得成功的压力、政治大屠杀后的柬埔寨等等。尽管主要以她们的小队人数为人所知，但每个女孩都被清晰地描绘出来，尽管是在原型塑造的帮助下。#7 (Hannah Gaffney) 才华横溢、坚韧且粗鲁；她和能干的搭档 #14 (Iraisa Ann Reilly) 与 25 号 (Tori Lewis) 发生冲突，这位干练且尽职尽责的队长。#8（玛格丽​​特·摩根）是认真而任性的孩子气，不像#11（多诺万·洛克特），治疗师的女儿和“成熟的年龄”。#13 (Annika Cowles) 自觉地倾向于她的愚蠢，而 #2 (Alison Ormsby) 和 #00 (Michelle Tsai) 占据了团体的外围，前者是宗教信仰者，可能是厌食症，后者过度投入和焦虑。然后是#46，永远的新女孩，她斜眼的视角和神秘的气氛掩盖了美丽游戏的天赋。除了最后一幕出现悲痛欲绝的足球妈妈（莉亚·沃尔顿饰）外，女孩们的蜷缩存在不受外人打扰。

Hannah Gaffney（#7）、Michelle Tsai（#00）和 Tori Lewis（#25）在费城剧院公司赠送的The Wolves宣传照片中。（照片：Anthony Werhun。）

虽然我们从未在球场上看到他们的动作，但拥有真正伸展的空间通常会给比赛带来运动的真诚和孤立感。例如，芝加哥古德曼剧院 2018 年在其舞台空间上演该剧，并在舞台周围使用了低墙和网，勾勒出女孩们的泡泡，让她们可以踢球而不必担心会引发事故。自然，PTC 的 Zoom 设置可以...