“At the ripe age of eight I knew what dying felt like.”
This striking line comes from Eislinn Gracen’s play entitled Guns in Dragonland, directed by Zoe Bell Williams and performed by Ithaca College students. It consists of five scenes that each explore a facet of how children are impacted by gun violence, illustrated further with each child having a guardian dragon, all of whom wrestle with being unable to protect their charges from harm and the loss of innocence that comes with exposure to such trauma. The concept is a brilliant one, with the show carefully expanding the audience’s understanding of the role the dragons play in its narrative and themes. There are some deeply emotive and tear-jerking moments too, particularly during the final scene.
However, Guns in Dragonland in fact ends up doing what it criticises – in one scene a character accuses his audience of wanting to see him regurgitate his trauma for them, while they watch passively, the only vague justification he has been given for why he must orate being to ‘spread awareness.’ This is a perceptive observation, but unfortunately Guns in Dragonland does much the same thing. The show could be accused of exploiting the suffering of real children for the sake of a theatrical narrative, none of the scenarios depicted in the show are novel to a contemporary audience. While a highly emotive call to action would certainly have felt disingenuous here too, the act of representing suffering for representation’s sake is one that should be questioned and perhaps interrogated more thoroughly by the play itself, since the idea is introduced and could be a very interesting angle to approach the usual refrain of ‘thoughts and prayers.’
Despite this thematic issue, the production itself is very well done. All of the actors are absolutely committed and there are some very raw and moving performances, particularly Abigail Monteagudo as a dragon whose child can no longer see them. Eloise May and Clark Shutz are able to carry the opening vignette just the two of them as a child and dragon duo. Additionally, the costume design by Nico Padilla is commendable and fits the slightly surreal nature of the show well, especially the costumes worn by the dragons.
Though this show does have thematic missteps, its dramatic and emotional moments are well executed and the narrative is sound. I do wonder if perhaps I would perceive this show differently were I from the US, and I will be interested to see how it is received if it is performed further in the United States – it is certainly deserving of further exploration and worth a watch!
