Privates’ Lives

PRIVATE PEACEFUL

Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Tuesday 17^th May 2022

Michael ‘War Horse’ Morpurgo’s novel is brought to life in this effective adaptation by Simon Reade and Nottingham Playhouse.  It’s the story of the Peaceful brothers, Tommo and Charlie, and their nigh-on idyllic childhood in pre-war Devon.  Throughout the course of one night of sentry duty in the trenches, Private Tommo Peaceful narrates his life story up to this moment, the action slickly transitioning into flashbacks with the wave of an army blanket and a lighting change.  The story flows seamlessly and moves on a quite a lick, but there’s still plenty of time for us to engage with the characters and their tribulations.

War takes the brothers to France, where they encounter all the usual tropes of WWI drama: the trenches, the rats, the lice, the unreasonable officers, the futility, the waste of life… Everything except a war poet, in fact.  The scenes here contrast sharply with the comparative rosiness of life at home, delivered with a sense of urgency: Tommo must get his story told before morning comes.  We find out why in a devastating denouement.

As Tommo,  Daniel Rainford is splendid, never leaving the stage.  We see him grow up before our eyes, as he and Charlie fall for the same girl, disrespect the pompous lord of the manor, and generally form the fraternal bond that will see them through to the end.  Tom Kanji makes a strong impression as the older brother, while Liyah Summers is sweet and appealing as their shared love object.  Emma Manton is both tough and sympathetic as the mother, bringing up the boys on her own and striving to keep the roof over their heads.  Robert Evans as the older brother with learning difficulties shows us the prejudices of the age, but surely the hardest working and most versatile member of the cast is John Dougall, appearing in the widest range of roles from the ill-fated father, to the vicar, the great aunt, and various military men.

It’s an engaging story, if a little cliched.  Director Elle While keeps things flowing, with sudden changes of mood and location jarring us out of the present and into the past and back again.  It’s a children’s story so we are spared the worst excesses of conditions, with the horrors of war only hinted at rather than depicted.  What comes through very strongly is the injustice of the treatment of so-called ‘cowards’ and conscientious objectors.

Matt Haskins’s lighting and Dan Balfour’s sound design enhance the storytelling, which is played out on Lucy Sierra’s remarkable set that conveys both homeland and war zone at the same time – thin branches curling in the air are also the barbed wire of the battlefield; mounds of sandbags suggest the rolling landscape…

This is a high-quality production reminding us of the huge waste of the First World War, and sadly, there are parallels with the world today, as Ukrainian men are recruited to defend their country against invaders, and once again thousands of lives are being lost on European soil.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Daniel Rainford in a Peaceful moment (Photo: Manuel Harlan)

Conservation Piece

RUNNING WILD

Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton, Thursday 8^th June, 2017

 

Michael Morpurgo’s animal stories (think War Horse, think Butterfly Lion) have become prime fodder for theatre aimed at children, but don’t let that mislead you.  The stories tackle grown-up issues and major themes, and this touring production of Running Wild is an excellent case in point.

Nine-year-old Lily’s dad is killed in the Iraq war.  She travels with her mother to Indonesia, where mum is drowned by a tsunami but Lily is saved by the actions of her elephant friend Oona.  Together, girl and elephant live in the rain forest until their Jungle Book lives are interrupted by orangutan poachers.  As if themes of loss and grief aren’t enough, the story packs in themes of conservation, animal protection and consumerism, as Lily goes through an eye-opening, eye-watering journey, a learning experience which is enough to radicalise anyone to vote for the Green Party and join every wildlife charity going.

In this performance, Annika Whiston makes an assured Lily, who finds her place in this cruel world of natural disaster and mankind’s folly.  She is supported by an ensemble that includes Kazeem Tosin Amore as her dear old dad, Balvinder Sopal as mum, and RSC veteran Liz Crowther as Lily’s determined grandmother.  There is likable support from Stephen Hoo in a range of roles and Corinna Powlesland as Dr Geraldine.  Jack Sandle’s Australian baddie, Mr Anthony, exudes the evils of callous capitalism.

But the show belongs to the breath-taking puppets of Finn Caldwell and Toby Olié.  It takes four skilful puppeteers to animate Oona and how quickly one forgets they are there in plain sight.  Oona is life-sized and appears to be breathing, thinking and, yes, farting.  Others too knock your eyes out: a beautiful tiger, a shoal of fish, a vicious crocodile lurking in the undergrowth.  I have seen Olié’s work before – the man is a god, giving life to inanimate forms.  Give him every award going.

Paul Wills’s set is a jungle of junk, comprised of broken bits of furniture, recycling wood to make the trees.  Cleverly, it also suggests we are making a rubbish tip of our world.  Directors Timothy Sheader and Dale Rooks pull no punches in telling this hard-hitting story, and carry it off with theatrical sophistication and flair: the tsunami scene is stylishly presented, for example, and the murder of a group of orangutans is brutal and upsetting.  Walt Disney kept the shooting of Bambi’s mother off-screen; here, adaptor Samuel Adamson puts it centre stage and the impact is devastating.

No cute and cuddly kiddies’ tale, Running Wild is an action-packed, eventful story that engages its target audience thoroughly.  The emotional impact is undeniable but I wonder how many members of the school parties that fill the auditorium will go home and demand a boycott of products that contain palm oil.  Perhaps it falls to the grown-ups that accompany them to take this necessary step.

Curiously, the story doesn’t make a connection between the cruel treatment and exploitation of animals in the wild with the fate of those who live on Lily’s grandmother’s farm.  That apart, this is quite the Greenest show I’ve seen and I can’t applaud it enough.

Oona and Nana – Liz Crowther (Photo: Dan Tsantilis)

 

 

Horse de combat

WAR HORSE
New London Theatre, Saturday 1st December, 2012

It’s been running for years and has since been adapted into a Spielberg film but at long last I got around to seeing it on stage. Adapted by Nick Stafford (no relation), Michael Murpurgo’s novel is given a unique theatrical treatment that is so powerful, so affecting and so effective, it has to been seen live and shared with an audience.

There is no narrator. This production shows us events rather than telling us about them. Settings are simple: actors stand around holding wooden railings to suggest pens and enclosures. Sketches and animations are projected onto a huge tear, a wound, across the black backdrop. Doors are wheeled on and off to show interiors and exteriors. The focus is on the performers, the actors and puppeteers who bring the story to life. At the centre of it is Joey, the titular horse, a life-sized puppet that takes three men to work it. No attempt is made to conceal the operators from the audience and the puppet is stylised in such a way that we see its workings but such is the skill of the puppeteers, we see it as a living, breathing animal. It is a breath-taking demonstration of the power of theatre to work its magic in the mind of the beholder. Handspring Puppet Company work miracles.

Directors Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris also use freeze-frames and slow motion to enhance the action, whether it’s Joey trying to plough a field or a cavalry charge. It’s an astonishingly inventive presentation, underpinned by a soundtrack of folk singing and music that is Stravinskyesque in its staccato dissonance. You cannot help but be totally immersed.

Luke Jerdy is young Albert the boy who raises Joey from a pony and who searches for him across war-torn France. His experiences make a man of him – this is not just an animal tale but a coming-of-age story set in one of the most horrific periods in human history.

I particularly liked Rachel Sanders and Steve Nicholson as Albert’s warring parents but really the entire company is first rate, doubling roles and keeping the action flowing through all its moments of contrast.

The drama is leavened with humour: a sarcastic sergeant major, for example, and a wonderful goose puppet with legs on a wheel. There are fantastic set pieces – a tank rumbles across the stage, Joey has a fight with another magnificent horse puppet, soldiers are struck down as they go over the top… It’s a sensory assault but above all an emotional journey. By the interval I was a wreck – at the end, I could hear a party of women behind me sobbing their eyes out -I didn’t turn around to see; I was too busy drying my face.

This magical, moving, devatasting and uplifting show is touring next year – I can’t wait to get back in the saddle.