About the Play:

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial has long been a favourite of acting teachers for male/male scenes.

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is a full-length drama by Herman Wouk. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a court martial has been adapted by the author into suspenseful evening of theatre. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is a fictitious account of the mutinous acts aboard a ship that is rocked by a typhoon during WWII, the play is a pungent and timely look at the "my country right or wrong" standard of military life.

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is a the brilliant courtroom drama of a naval lieutenant on trial for mutiny in wartime by Herman Wouk, based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. A young lieutenant has relieved his captain of command in the midst of a typhoon on the grounds that the captain, Queeg, is a psychopath in crisis and commanded the ship and its crew to destruction. The play centers on the key question – was the Caine's executive officer justified in taking the helm from Captain Queeg at the height of a Pacific typhoon? And why or why not? Herman Wouk presents riveting arguments for both prosecution and defense. Naval tradition is against him, but testimony eventually reveals a devastating picture of the neurotic Captain Queeg's mental disintegration.

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial premiered in 1953 at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara, California. It transferred in 1954 to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway in New York City. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and been performed in regional college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 19 male

What people say:

"Enormously exciting. It is the modern stage at its best." — New York Daily News

"Like mines laid by the enemy across a wartime sea, the plot points arranged by novelist-playwright Herman Wouk in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial still explode how and when they should." — Broadway World

About the Playwright:

Herman Wouk (1915-2019) was an American author best known for historical fiction such as The Caine Mutiny for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. A best-seller, drawing from his wartime experiences aboard minesweepers during World War II, it was adapted by the author into a Broadway play called The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial and, in 1954, Columbia Pictures released a film version with Humphrey Bogart portraying Lt. Commander Philip Francis Queeg, captain of the fictional USS Caine.