by Amanda Lawrence
The Wolves written by Sarah DeLappe is a wonderfully written play that explores the emotions and turmoil that teenage girls deal with. The Wolves has received a lot of attention and has been nominated for numerous awards such as the Pulitzer Prize finalist; Lortel, Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Play/Emerging Playwright and has won the American Playwriting Foundation’s inaugural Relentless Award. DeLappe studied at Brooklynn College and received her MFA in playwriting. The Wolves first premiered off-Broadway at the Playwrights Realm. Might I add that she is only 29 years young… Crazy I know.
Side note: Sarah DeLappe wrote this play in her sports bra in her apartment in 3 weeks. I found this information humourous at first (not the 3 weeks time part although that is very impressive, but the inclusion of the sports bra bit). I often do things in a sports bra but have no deeper meaning for it other than for comfort. When I began reading the preface to The Wolves, she began to explain the underlying intent of it. I will include a quote of her preface because her words are much more precise and intentional than I could even attempt. She states, “..to suggest what sort of play this was from the start. Physical. Concerned with the body, with women’s bodies, not as eye candy or symbolic vessels but as muscular, dexterous, capable, contradictory, and fallible individuals.”
Let me begin by saying.. Wowza! Being a young female in my early 20’s I can’t express enough how real and raw this play felt. I had seen a trailer for this play on YouTube and was immediately drawn into the lives of these girls and I was sucked back into the high school drama and gossip that every teenager faces. But it’s so much more than that. It’s more than a typical story about the drama that unfolds during your teen years. It’s more than a cliche of how hard life can be in high school. This play deals with a spectrum of personalities and circumstances that are relatable to females. The conversations that occur are comedic, awkward, embarrassing, rude, soft, sweet and honest. What is fascinating to me about The Wolves, is that it doesn’t take place amongst various locations and scenes but all occur in an indoor soccer field, during warm-ups nonetheless. Do you know why that matters? Because it’s real. These young adolescents are all extremely different in all aspects but are all there for the same goal, to play soccer. Raw conversations happen anyway at any time and when your young the most vulnerable conversations can occur immediately after you talk about the huge zit on your forehead or after you scream sing the preamble with your friends. These conversations aren’t planned and timely nor are they always appropriate and mature, but they matter. They happen concurrently and reading the play may be messy and confusing, but guess what? Welcome to the life of an adolescent female. DeLappe did a great job of creating dynamic characters. #46 is the new girl and is strange and awkward but extremely gifted and talented at playing soccer. #00 is the goalie for their team and is more shy and introverted but also focused and driven for the sport. She has crippling anxiety that sends her off running to vomit during various parts of the play. #7 is cocky and witty and sassy and would probably intimidate me, but for some odd reason, I would still want to be her friend. These are just a few of the many dynamic characters that all offer something relatable to ourselves in some way or another.
The conversations brought onto the turf field also sometimes bring reference to events that happened off. #7 and #14 are close friends we see from the beginning of the show but after a ski trip went wrong together we find out details that cause a rift in their friendship. Betrayal and abandonment along with breaking of trust cause a heated debate between the two. What may seem like typical drama, is bigger rooted issues that females face a lot. The topic of abortion and sexual harassment is brought up subtlely yet intentionally in their heated debate but is also approached in a way to make it seem like petty high school drama.
SPOILER ALERT!! I know I know, but I cannot NOT talk about this. After the death of a teammate (cue the jaw drop) which shocked me left me in tears and left me staring at the play intensely waiting and dreading to find out which player it was, I was satisfied with the ending. I’m usually one to hate shows that end in deaths; I mean who doesn’t hate death? BUT I’ll tell you why I was OK with this ending. Because it still included the random banter of these teenage girls. It still included the silly immature behavior, the uncomfortableness, the awkwardness, the weird tension in the room. IT INCLUDED ALL THE FEELS! DeLappe did a great job of not forgetting that these are still adolescent females. They still jump from one conversation/topic to the next without skipping a beat. They are not entirely mature yet and this death was a big deal, but the conversations weren’t fully focused on the death or even whose death for that matter. But seriously, the anticipation of waiting to see who didn’t appear on the field to find out which one had died was gut-wrenching and so well done.
Overall, I loved this play. Being written by a female, she knew how to summarize and interpret the life of a female teenager and the conversations she had. She was able to bring me back to conversations I was a part of or listened to when I was in high school (honestly brought back some cringe uncomfortable memories.) She evoked every emotion in me, from feeling uncomfortable and humored by their talk about periods and using tampons, to feeling angry at how #7 left #14 all alone with a guy she didn’t know and then relating so closely with #00 who is anxious and shy but determined. She nailed so many things right on the dot. And might I add that I love that this is an ALL FEMALE cast with no male roles AT ALL. Most movies, shows, that I love still include a male counter-part. Not that there is anything wrong with that because I do love me a good rom-com or romantic duo, but it is not always necessary. I applaud Sarah Delappe in her work and will be keeping a lookout for other plays written by her. But maybe next time, no deaths? Oh, I almost forgot!! Complaints I have for this play you ask? NONE!
Works Cited:
THE WOLVES play by Sarah DeLappe
Amanda's Blog 