When Erich M. Remarque’s novel All Quiet on the Western Front was released just a decade after the end of World War I, the book received praise for boldly bringing to light the horrors of battle for German soldiers.
It was so bold, it was banned in Germany by Adolf Hitler, who wanted to hide the truth of war as he rallied troops for the Second World War. Known as one of the greatest wartime novels, All Quiet on the Western Front had a voice that couldn’t be quieted. Now it has another.
South Philly-based Humble Materials is taking on a version of All Quiet on the Western Front, but from a new perspective — from the mothers and wives of the soldiers who were sent off to war. The 1928 novel had no dialogue of any women in its story with only mere mentions of the females who were left in the dark about their loved ones as the men fought for their lives in the trenches.
Playing as part of the Fringe Festival Sept. 19-21, Humble Materials’ adaptation will be performed by an all-female cast and will dive deep into the hearts and minds of the women who were footnotes in the original story.
“That’s what we do at Humble,” said Jessica Noel, co-founder of Humble Materials. “We take a story everyone thinks they know and we flip it on its head. We’re known for that and we’re proud of that.”
Noel lives just a short walk from Philly PACK, an intimate venue at the corner of Federal Street and Moyamensing Avenue, which can seat up to 150 people. Noel is leading her ensemble into a brave and beautiful journey of transcending a gruesome war novel into an emotional tale of longing and loss from different perspectives, without losing the trenches.
“In our script, all the characters must be played by women,” Noel said. “It’s actually the point of the show. The original novel takes place in the trenches of WWI and you don’t really get these developed female characters. The boys are in the trenches talking about their mothers and their wives and the female characters represent home. But you don’t get to meet them and hear how they are feeling about the whole situation.
“One monologue is about how much you pour into raising a son. All the boys, 17 years old, were shipped to the front. We put the moms and the wives in the forefront. I think it’s timely because there is still a lot happening today. We should be talking about war. If we are going to talk about war, let’s make sure we really know what war is.”
An ambitious plan like this seems like it might take an army. Humble Materials plans to pull it off with just five actors, three musicians, a production designer and a director.
“It’s awesome,” said actor Carolyn Breyer of Bucks County. “Jess comes to us with an idea and there’s no heads-up and we just do it. It’s always really fun to get it started and see where it’s going to go.”
Breyer and Noel are joined on stage by Amy Henderson, Yasmin Roberti and Lisa Vaccarelli as each plays the role of a soldier and an important female in the soldier’s life. It can make costume changes tricky. But nothing is held back from the audience as a laundry line is in full sight of gallery the entire play so audience members can see the transformations of roles.
“It’s totally different than anything we’ve done,” said Roberti, who is originally from Allentown but now lives in South Philly. “When Jess came to us in the fall and said she wanted to do an adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front, I have so much trust in her. There’s ideas, that if you take them literally, sound crazy, but our audiences trust us and they come along for the journey.”
Over the last four years, Humble Materials has previously adapted Madea, Scarlet Letter and The Yellow Wallpaper. All were bold and fresh looks at timely pieces. The latest offering hopes to follow that path.
“It’s such a strange concept,” Noel said. “It’s so experimental that I had to have the safety net of my ensemble. Like, yeah, we’re going to do this.”
The play is co-directed by Noel and Monica Flory and production design is provided by Kat Caro. Every member at Humble Materials wears multiple hats.
“It’s just an ensemble of adults that love to make theater together,” Noel said. “That’s what we’ve been doing for the past four years.”
Showtime each night is at 8 p.m. and tickets can be bought at https://www.phillypack.org/pack-events/. The show is appropriate for ages 13 and up.
