Containing David Rabe's Vietnam Trilogy, all four plays in this collection focus on what the author calls the eternal human pageant. In The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel (which starred Al Pacino), a young recruit is gradually brutalized, Sticks and Bones deals with the issue of mixed race partnerships during the war and Streamers portrays the absurdity of violence through the characters of two sergeants. Also included is The Orphan, Rabe's version of The Oresteia. In Rabe's vision the American dream has tipped over into a furious nightmare in which was is not just a political phenomenon but...