"Black Watch" -a must see play by National Theatre of Scotland

We went to see "Black Watch" last night at Shakespeare Theatre and it was fabulous. Maybe the best play/drama I have ever seen. You forgot that these fellows were actors and truly it seemed to be " a band of brothers" in Iraq, trying to make sense of their war. The Black Watch Regiment has a storied history of glory in battles for more than 300 years, in all the major wars and generations of Scottish men have followed a tradition of service. The  history lesson is interesting, but it is the immediacy of the Iraq experience that is so compelling. I have never seen a better portrayal of the bonding of men in battle as this. I was deeply struck by a visual comparison to Greek Olympic athletes from the Iliad to the scenes where the soldiers fight and wrestle each other to stave off boredom and anxiety under battle stress. Women bond like this with girlfriends ( not wrestling) but emotionally, and seek each others comfort  in everyday life but it seemed that men reached this level of deep emotional need for each other only under very isolating and stressful conditions. The play was made even more powerful by the continual bagpipe music. The tradition of bagpipes at funerals really undid me because they played at my father's funeral and a close friend's , so I expected the tears. I did not expect the emotional punch I felt at the end of the play. Try to go see it- it has a very limited engagement but very worthwhile. Afterwards we had dinner with dear friends and had a surreal counterbalance of a hilarious evening of wonderful food and a comical suburban experience with home invasion protection! Ask no more!  This morning was cold and starkly beautiful as I spread lots of hay around for the horses. They are eating a ton of hay. I hope I have enough in loft. To make the morning even stranger, as I got back into 'Gator to continue my hay odyssey, there was a black widow spider creeping along the driver's seat. I was like WTF! Why doesn't the cold kill black widows and stinkbugs!