The Wolves

 

The Wolves, written by Sara DeLappe and directed by Nell Bang-Jensen was originally scheduled to be produced on stage by Philadelphia Theatre Company last March when the world was turned upside -down by the Corona virus epidemic and theatres were forced to close. High School girls from different schools play on a recreational soccer team, The Wolves. As the play opens in Week One, there are nine zoom boxes with girls talking. In subsequent weeks, there may be fewer zoom boxes with girls inside and then additional ones which slide open as more girls join in. In the beginning, the girls seem to talk all at once and pay little attention to each other. As they begin to stretch and warm up there is some glimpse of a soccer team, beyond chatty teens. As the weeks progress, the audience can appreciate the magic of the work of the director, the designer, and the zoom boxes in the sharing of orange slices with teammates and the running off to visit a coach, giving information to a scout,  and running back to join the team. After a week’s break, in Week Six, a few have returned to play soccer and the rest of the team slowly straggles in. The girls’ comments about feeling ill at ease and events in the last week leave clues about what has happened. It is a strongly written section and each actor plays her part exceeding well. The Wolves is now streaming for a 48 rental from Philadelphia Theatre Company for a pay- as- you- can until December 20, 2020 .  This play is being streamed including the original cast so the audience gets a virtual experience just as it would have been produced on PTC’s main stage in March. It is extremely well done.  To rent it, log in to your PTC account or contact the Virtual Box Office M-F between 12:00 pm and 5:00:pm at 215-985-0450. The Wolves runs for 90 minutes with no intermission. You might very well want to watch it more than once. I know that I did.