Still in Germany, they seek help from a cynical, rapacious Army captain (pungently written, and portrayed with sharp-fanged humor by Dan Butler) who secretly deals arms to any and all buyers. The captain later suggests, a bit ludicrously, that Ben might be just the right star for a reality show some friends are cooking up, “Suburban Zombie.” Back in America, in a Motel 6 in Kansas, Jimmy and Ben arrange a date with two prostitutes — two blind prostitutes (their pimp appears to specialize in niche marketing to Iraq war veterans) — before Ben works up the courage to go home.  But his reunion with his wife, Bonnie Ann (Lisa Joyce), ends unhappily, and the men take to the road again. I am not sure whether Mr. Weller was aiming to write a variation on Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” — the play’s (rather tasteless) title suggests that he might have been — but as with the creature brought into being by the title character of that novel, Ben’s violent impulses are eventually trained on the man who could be said to have made him the way he is: George W. Bush. (He’s coyly called just G W in the script.) The play’s gruesome final scene is a confrontation between the soldiers and their smiling, smarmy commander in chief, incisively caricatured by Mr. Butler.  Mr. Weller, who has another play, “Fifty Words,” opening in New York this month, takes a lot of risks in fashioning this grimly comic finale, presumably inspired by outrage at the idea that the architects of war rarely have to suffer its most harrowing consequences. Mr. Weller’s sympathy for the soldiers and his antipathy to the Bush administration and its prosecution of the Iraq war are not hard to glean.  “I am here because strong people put me here — and weak ones went along,” G W boasts. “That’s the democratic way.”  But it seems a little brutal to make a wounded soldier the protagonist of your play and then deny him his humanity, in this case both literally and figuratively. Ben is presumably meant to be some sort of supernatural manifestation of the collective psyche of the soldiers who have suffered and died in the Iraq war. But a real man grappling with the painful challenges of reintegrating into society after enduring a terrible ordeal would more powerfully illustrate the cost of the war. Although he is played with quiet, existential anguish by Mr. Stoll, Ben is more a philosophical and dramatic device than a credible character.  “Jimmy, we don’t belong anywhere,” Ben says. But Mr. Weller need not have made his soldier an actual outcast from humanity to explore the sense of alienation that returning soldiers often feel, wounded or not. Fantasy can certainly be used to illuminate painful reality, but in “Beast” Mr. Weller ultimately offers more mystification than understanding.  By Michael Weller; directed by Jo Bonney; sets by Eugene Lee; costumes by Colleen Werthmann; lighting by David Lander; original compositions and sound by David Van Tieghem; video by Tal Yarden; makeup and effects by Nathan Johnson; puppets by Bob Flanagan; fight director, Thomas Schall; dialect coach, Deborah Hecht; production stage manager, Linda Marvel; assistant stage manager, Sarah Bierenbaum. Presented by the New York Theater Workshop, James C. Nicola, artistic director; William Russo, managing director. At the New York Theater Workshop, 79 East Fourth Street, East Village; (212) 239-6200. Through Oct. 12. Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes.  WITH: Raul Aranas (Mr. Aziz/Victor Leung), Jeremy Bobb (Schtyn/Smalldon/J. T.), Dan Butler (Captain Adler/G W), Lisa Joyce (Liesl/Sherine/Bonnie Ann Voychevsky), Logan Marshall-Green (Jimmy Cato), Eileen Rivera (Lt. Mariana Sanchez/Camilla) and Corey Stoll (Benjamin Voychevsky).  Cast Starring Raul Aranas, Jeremy Bobb, Lisa Joyce, Logan Marshall-Green, Larry Pine, Eileen Rivera and Corey Stoll  Closing Date October 12, 2008  This information was last updated: April 26, 2017  A version of this review appears in print on , on Page E3 of the New York edition with the headline: Creature of Iraq War, Seeking Revenge on His Maker. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Michael Weller approaches a painful subject from an unusual perspective in his new play, “Beast,” a macabre drama about a badly maimed Iraq war veteran.