Photo via Capital Fringe.

Reminds us of: Those Civil War dramas you mostly enjoyed despite having to watch in high school history class.

Flop, Fine or Fringe-tasic? Fine.

An ominous shadow hangs over the entirety of this Civil War chamber piece, set in 1861 on a single day of Southern general Stonewall Jackson’s early weeks in command. The characters spend much of the play debating the best foot forward to end the Civil War. The text of the show never reveals the outcome, but it doesn’t have to—textbooks tell us that the war dragged on for four more years. The show instead strives to deepen modern understanding of events long past, and the people who played a role in them. Historical consensus casts the characters as The Enemy, but the show asks the audience to find sympathy for the losing side.

On that score, it largely succeeds. The elegant script from James F. Bruns draws compelling, nuanced portraits of Jackson, the general’s upstart aide de camp, Secretary of War Judah Benjamin, and the farmer’s daughter Lucretia. Tidbits of local battle history will pique the interest of history buffs. But the convincing dialogue and sturdy accent work don’t quite overcome the awkward rhythms of a disjointed ensemble. Young cast members Cliff Rooks and Meghan Landon, fresh out of high school and quite polished for their tender age, deliver lines in rapid bursts, while older authority figures Richard Fiske and James Day drawl with lackadaisical abandon. The two approaches never quite coalesce, and the play’s rhythms are bumpy as a result. These flaws don’t have to be permanent, though, and this show demonstrates a strong foundation in need of a little refinement. To state the obvious, it has a better chance at success than its characters do.

Confederates is playing at the Logan Fringe Arts Space on July 12 at 6:30 p.m., July 14 at 7 p.m. July 22 at 8:15 p.m. and July 24 at 2 p.m.

See here for more of DCist’s Capital Fringe 2016 reviews.