←Recommendations of After the War is Over

For anyone who’s served (or loved someone who has), the irony of the title is clear. War is never really over. There are so many brilliant lines:
“You got older than two years in two years.”
“Some of the good times weren’t even that good, they were just not all bad.”
Jolly drops us into a reunion between a returning serviceman and his sweetheart, and then transports us to the same spot decades later where the passage of time yields a new reality that is both crushing and beautiful.

Remarkably tender piece that's deceptively simple.
I'm always happy when a ten-minute play manages to have fully fleshed, grounded roles for all.

What a beautifully crafted piece that perfectly juxtaposes a tender post war reunion with a visit to the same spot 60 years later. In the first instance, we see a young soldier meeting his sweetheart at their favorite park bench, eager to forget his wartime experience In the latter, we see the same fellow unable to remember more than that meeting. This one certainly pulls at your heartstrings. So well done.

Arthur M. Jolly writes with precision to the point where you feel elated one moment and heartbroken the next. A talented writer knows how to balance this dichotomy, and Arthur does it well here.

A very sweet poem of a play. Life moves fast. Better hold onto the lamp post and benches while you can and hope your loved ones are around you was you go.

The gentleness of this play makes it all the more poignant and deeply moving. The memories of Calvin and Mabel are permanently etched so that even the relentless progression of time does not diminish their meaning or what these two people mean to each other. Even the onset of the cruelty of forgetting doesn't take it away. Arthur M. Jolly's touch in creating powerful and lasting characters and moments is in full force here, and as someone who has been down this road, I am grateful to see how well he tells their story.

What seems at first like a wistful two-hander about negotiating love and attraction in a bygone era turns out to be two two-handers, inextricably and heartbreakingly linked, about the inevitabilites of age. The brilliance of Jolly's piece is that its theatrical form is itself the perfect metaphor for the persistence of love and dignity as memory falters. A sweet, sad little gem.

A play which explores with deep authenticity how war changes lives and relationships. "I don’t know how to just... be here," is a line of powerful simplicity which for me hits the nail on the head. The play made me think of all the people who were expected to just get on with it and go back to normal life post-war, and how the trauma of that time resonates through their lives and the lives of their families.

After wrapping myself into an adorably awkward conversation between two sweethearts meeting after a long separation, I was not prepared for what came next. Skillfully written, with a clear understanding of the effects of Alzheimers, on memory, on family, on our footing in the world, After the War is Over goes straight to the heart of it all. You may find yourself deep within your own sense of memory and place as Old Calvin begins to exit. And so it should be.