|
Eugene O'Neill's 1918 one-act
play "Shell Shock" is among his most neglected
plays, and for good reasons: the dialogue is stilted
and the plot development is contrived. Nevertheless,
the premise is sound and the theme is perennial:
shell shock, a.k.a. battle fatigue, a.k.a.
operational exhaustion, a.k.a. post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD). Whatever the term may be, soldiers
will forever be shocked by their experiences on the
battlefield.
To revive this lost play, I have adapted it to the
screen and shifted the time frame by a century, so
the plot takes place in the 21st century and the
soldiers are veterans of the (latest) Iraq War. The
screenplay is released under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License and anyone
interested in producing it is welcome to contact me
via the email address on the title page. —Or
Amit |
