Men of Tortuga Book

Drama / 5m

Four men conspire to defeat a despised opponent by a ruthless act of violence: they will fire a missile into a crowded conference room on the day of an important meeting. Maxwell, a hero of the old guard, volunteers to sacrifice himself for the plan. Then Maxwell meets Fletcher, an idealist with a "Compromise Proposal" designed to resolve all conflicts. Maxwell regards the Compromise as hopeless, but he develops a liking for Fletcher - a distressing fact when Maxwell learns that, if the conspiracy proceeds, young Fletcher will be among the dead.

As the scheme spins wildly into complication, the plotters descend into suspicion, bloodlust and raucous infighting, while Fletcher is drawn, inexorably, into the lion's den.

"Jason Wells isn't giving everything away in his captivating new play Men of Tortuga. In addressing some serious contemporary issues, he creates a scenario where the audience has only a rough idea of what's going on. And that's just about the way it should be. In a crackling world premiere at the Asolo Repertory Theater, Wells tells a story of corporate greed, power, surveillance and the secrecy that increasingly pervades our daily lives. Wells and the Asolo cast grab the audience from the start...The play pulses with energy..." -Variety

"Calling all corporate conspiracy theorists: Jason Wells has written a play confirming everything you've ever wanted to believe about what goes on behind the frosted windows and code-locked doors of America's executive suites...ripping, blacker-than-black satire...Wells' work, though almost blank in details, carefully exposes the barbarism encoded in corporate bureaucracy. With a grand sense ofhumor about misinterpreted metaphors and think-tank buzz language - 'he eats our bread' refers to someone you can trust - Tortuga gives us absurd savages in suits, drinking good bourbon and plotting destruction... Eat their bread." - Time Out Chicago

"Consider an interlude in Jason Wells' Men of Tortuga, a tale of global politics, male power games and moral ambiguity that is in many ways the [Steppenwolf First Look] festival's most dazzling and provocative play...When, [the actors] put the final beat on a particularly brilliant scene, there was no stopping the burst of applause. Not only did this crackling exchange work on a slew of levels at once - with matters of ethics, careermaking, legacymaking, ego-massaging, cutthroat cross-generation competition and hints of father-son tensions all being juggled, but the actors attacked the material as if they were playing virtuoso dueling violins. The rhythms, the emotional shadings, the teasing tones, the mix of respect and defensiveness were all so superbly calibrated that they generated a sensation of sheer giddiness....Wells' play happens to be a shrewd piece of gamesmanship that blends a bit of Mamet and his corrosive comedy with a touch of Kafka and Joseph Conrad, plus a splash of high entertainment. It's tailor-made for the age of terrorism, assassination, and corrupt global organizations...with writing and acting this smart and this sharp, it never fails to hit its target....hard-driving, blackly comic, relentlessly macho... [A] 100-minute head game filled with vacuum-packed scenes...Wells has crafted a taut, cleverly orchestrated piece about power, personal psychosis, game-playing, morality and the terror of failure...a sharp parable for our time." -Chicago Sun-Times