Vietnam veteran Brian Delate presents a new version of his one-person show with undeniable power and an elegant punch that reverberate well beyond the curtain’s fall
By John Lavitt
North Hollywood, CA (The Hollywood Times) 12/4/23 –
In the words of Samuel Beckett:
In the end, it is the end that is the worst.
You must go a little more.
You must go on a long time more.
When Brian Delate put on his one-person show at the end of November, the Road Theatre in North Hollywood was overflowing with a vast array of beings. Beyond the sold-out audience, the theatre was filled with the ghosts of Soldiers, mostly young men lost to the world well before their time, and the gentle, loving presence of guardian angels.
In most cases, a night at the theatre is diverting and enjoyable. Sometimes, however, such a night becomes an emotionally visceral experience that connects us to a deeper meaning. Such is the impact and the significance of Guardian Angels.
Written and performed by Brian Delate, the solo show reflects not only his experiences as a Vietnam veteran but also his success as an actor in Hollywood and beyond. From Guard Dekins in The Shawshank Redemption and Truman’s Father in The Truman Show to Colonel Marshall in Buffalo Soldiers and Detective O’Connor in The Brave One,
Delate has had an impressive career on the silver screen.
In recent years, however, he has shifted his focus to telling his own story on stage, presenting cathartic solo shows that strip away the illusions and offer the man as a naked offering on the altar of performance theatre. As a note, although the offering is visceral, Delate does manage to keep his clothes on from beginning to end.
At the Road Theatre, Delate’s performance is taken to the next level of excellence with the help of Deb Hiett’s precise direction. When it comes to solo shows, the role of a director is a careful balancing of unleashing and containing. While some aspects of a performer need to be brought out, others need to be quieted so this can happen.
Hiett helps Delate bring forth the significance of his message by focusing on his body and respecting moments of silence. By helping Delate get in touch with his physicality while not being worried about gaps, the direction allows the actor to expand the range of his expression while making it more precise.
In the Guardian Angels program, National Book Award-winning novelist Tim O’Brien expresses his response to the show by exclaiming, “I was blown away.” As the author of Going After Cacciato and The Things They Carried, O’Brien became famous by transforming his experience in Vietnam into a modern version of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s fantastic realism. In a sense, his work gives the feeling that the horror of the experience was so extreme that only imagination could ultimately save you.
Given his affinity for both O’Brien’s experience and work, Delate carves a similar path with Guardian Angels. There are fantastical aspects to the show, which can only be embraced by diving into the deep waters of Delate’s imagination. Whether these aspects reflect reality or a dream is not the question that matters. Instead, what matters is the message intrinsic to the fantastic – the lasting and precious value of every human life.
Delate wants to be sure that each audience member leaves the theatre with a sense of their own value. After seeing so many young soldiers die and so many veterans take their own lives in what seems like an ever-escalating rate of suicide, he knows the critical significance of this message.
Indeed, his guardian angels give a message that reflects one of my favorite quotations from Samuel Beckett, and the two can be married: “You have to continue to live as long as you can no matter what. You must go on a little more. You must go on a long time more.”
