Theatre treatment for alcohol abuse

Print Email

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 01/04/2013

Reporter: Jane Cowan

The US military is using theatre to broach the topic of problem drinking which afflicts American troops.


STEVE CANNANE, PRESENTER: The US Marines see themselves as the toughest fighting forces with a proud 237-year history. But alcohol abuse has a long history with Marines, and military forces worldwide. Now the US top brass is taking a new approach, using theatre to broach the topic of problem drinking and the Marines themselves are front and centre of that experience. Jane Cowan reports from the Miramar Marine base in San Diego California and a warning this piece contains some strong language.

ADAM DRIVER, ACTOR: I think my overall f***ed-uppedness in my impatience.

JANE COWAN, NORTH AMERICAN CORRESPONDENT: The traditional say no to drinking session, it's not. This is the US military's latest weapon to combat alcohol abuse in its ranks.

ADAM DRIVER: He asked me, have you been drinkin'? I said well I had a glass of wine with my lunch. And I slurred that a bit. I must've smelled like a brewery ...

JANE COWAN: It's an expletive laden booze soaked one man play set in Dublin, but designed to hit Marines in the face with something they can recognise.

ADAM DRIVER: Then I got a phone call from the party girl saying she was having a baby and now she's my wife.

BRYAN DOERRIES, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: We're not saying to the audience this is you. We're simply asking the audience to reflect upon what they see of themselves in this Irish drinking story.

ADAM DRIVER: He's one of those people that can drink a keg of Guinness, get four hours' sleep and still look like he runs a health food shop. I sometimes think he will be eating his breakfast one morning and it will catch up with him and just disintegrate in seconds and his girlfriend is a f***in' state there she looks like crap.

BRYAN DOERRIES: We're creating a space where people can acknowledge the humour. they can acknowledge the embarrassment and the cohesion as you heard that comes from drinking, the fun of drinking. And they can also - there's also space for talking about the shame and the destructive powers of drinking as well.

ADAM DRIVER: Thank you so much. It seems like there's a lot of connections. I really appreciate you having the courage to say that.

JANE COWAN: On a Marine base in San Diego, it's a civilian from the creative arts asking the uncomfortable questions.

BRYAN DOERRIES: Why do you think Marines drink to such excess?

US MARINE: If I didn't drink ...

JANE COWAN: And it works. The stories pouring out with striking candour.

US MARINE II: I'm currently getting kicked out of the Marines Corps because of an incident that involved alcohol.

US MARINE III: It went from just being able to drink a couple of beers to finishing a case and finishing more than half the beer.

US MARINE IV: Every time you go out, people pay you drinks if you're in uniform. It got to the point where I was drinking two bottles whatever it was with alcohol in it.

US MARINE V: Drinking in the Marine Corps, it's more of a - how do you say - it's like our culture. Everybody's done it.

JANE COWAN: Here on the Marine base where the testosterone fuelled action of the movie Top Gun played out the stories bear out the statistic that 39 per cent of soldiers are coming home with a drinking problem. There's no shortage of experience with destructive boozing. Marine after Marine seemingly caught in an intergenerational cycle of alcohol abuse entwined with military service.

US MARINE VI: Both my grandparents were heavy drinkers and my mom used to tell me about how my grandfather would come home, like, hammered and all types of stuff like that recently I've been having - I had extreme problems with drinking. My real father he lost me due to drinking. When we were in the recovery process, halfway through it, he actually sat me down and he looked me in the eye when I was seven and he told me I can't choose you. He pretty much, he chose alcohol over me.

MYNAL CAMPO, US MARINE: We drink because one our families aren't with us, and we have nothing else to do, but ...

JANE COWAN: No story is more pointed than corporal Mynal Campo's.

MYNAL CAMPO: My family, Marine Corps, my dad Marine, alcoholic, my grandfather, alcoholic, Marine. My grandma left my grandfather because of his drinking.

JANE COWAN: The 21-year-old drank away $40,000 after her marriage broke down while she was deployed. She thinks problematic drinking stems not just from a hard living military culture, and exposure to high stress life and death situations but from the demographic the job attracts in the first place.

MYNAL CAMPO: A lot of people join the Marine Corps because they have something wrong with, not necessarily something wrong with them but something's going on.

JANE COWAN: Whatever the causes, the military is trying to do something about it. Hoping a warts and all depiction of drinking on stage can improve how the organisation has typically approached alcohol education.

JOHN FARNAM, COMMANDING OFFICER: It was very clinical almost, boring I guess is probably the better word to look at. People listen to it. It was just like the United States, Charlie Brown's teacher, just that "Womp, womp, womp" sound. They're talking but you're not listening. Now I think we're a little more imaginative in how the message is sent across.

JANE COWAN: For actor Adam Driver it's a confronting but gratifying experience. He trained as a Marine before swapping the Kevlar for tights at the prestigious Juilliard drama school in New York.

ADAM DRIVER: I mean, yeah, I don't associate the people standing up and sharing feelings with my time in the military.

JANE COWAN: He has a starring role in the series Girls and a string of films including the blockbuster Lincoln to his name. But this is a completely different endeavour.

ADAM DRIVER: Acting in general can get a little egotistical and to feel like you're actually doing something that's active and changing the culture around you, I mean like, there's few things you can ask for as an actor that's a better feeling than that.

JANE COWAN: As the story goes, the Marines were actually founded in a bar, which gives you an idea how ingrained drinking is in the culture. But the fact the Marine Corps has allowed us to come on base and film Marines speaking so openly about their struggles with alcohol, shows you how willing the military now is to tackle the problem head-on.

The man behind the concept of using drama to broach difficult topics in military settings, says it's precisely now as America winds down its wars that this conversation needs to be had.

BRYAN DOERRIES: And then when they get handed the drink when they step off the bus when they get back home, when they get off that flight, at least between when they went to war and got handed the drink they will have a moment to reflect upon where that drink might lead them. And that's the hope.

JANE COWAN: To re-enter civilian life without also joining the ranks of the alcoholic.

Jane Cowan, Lateline.


Search Lateline

Sort by:

Got a news tip?
