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Theirs but to do and die At Ease
The Old Joint Stock** At Ease is a
passionate account of issues that must be addressed. Rod Dungate is the
director, researcher and playwright of the verbatim piece. In this play, we hear about the tragic life of
soldier Alex Rees, abused from a young age, finally having a chance at a
happy life by joining the Blues and Royals, only to be abused in the
most horrific ways again. DDArts explores sexual abuse in the army and the
impact this had on the life of Alex Rees. Dungate feeds knowledge and
research through other characters of family, Lord Cashman, whose
encounter with Rees came to light when campaigning for LGBT rights in
the mid 90s, and the character of Dungate himself who’s research was so
integral to the piece. Dungate highlights the stigmas throughout a
Forty-year period and the harrowing impact it had on the life of Rees. Firstly, the set alludes to a kitchen, but
television screens upstage showed us pictures of where the action took
place, as they allude to many significant settings. Classic Brechtian
screen titles to reminded us where we were. It was needed, as the
backdrop of a modest home did not make sense against the setting of
Westminster offices and army barracks. The story behind Alex Rees was highly engaging
and would work well in a radio play. The documentary style shows a vast
wealth of research and passion for the theme in hand. It is certainly a
substantial and touching subject to touch upon and it shows within the
script that Dungate has thought through every detail. It was a shame
that the execution of a fantastic theme and story was not carried out to
serve it justice. The docudrama style, although commendable in
background knowledge, was reflected with a dull and dreary delivery. To
show what was gathered throughout the process, the cast read from
newspaper articles, interviews and other sources in a ‘news reporter
style’. Actors physically read the research from folders
and left no room for the imagination to empathise with what was really
happening, as their parrot fashion of recall did not connect to the
story or the people portrayed within it. It left a feeling that some
actors were insensitive to their character, and did not truly connect
with the lives and stories of the people they portrayed. This made the
show look somewhat under rehearsed. It was a shame that the direction
from Dungate was not clearly handled by most of the cast. Actor Carl Thornley played protagonist Alex Rees.
He constantly lacked empathy throughout his performance as the
emotionally and physically abused soldier. The character of Rees had
great substance. The tragic journey and circumstance was not depicted
through Thornley’s performance. The part was merely learned, with
stumbling lines and a constantly rushed pace. From an audience’s
perspective, Thornely The same can be said for Shannon Anthony, playing
Alex’s sister, Liz. The character of Liz carried a heavy past, showing
the relationship between brother and sister and seeing the actions of
Alex over a period of time. The emotional and psychological effect of
being abused as a youngster by her father and seeing the person her
brother became was not shown within her performance. It was as if lines
were learned and said, but nothing more. A shining light in the production was actor Denny
Hodge who played MEP Michel Cashman. A highly commended LGBT campaigner
within the Labour party. Hodge gave a strong portrayal of the real life
politician with strong and engaging edge. Hodge showed us that with
Dungate’s thorough research, we see inside the life of the person in the
public eye and follow his incredible journey. A great performance also came from Alison Belbin,
who we saw too little. She replayed a touching performance of Alex Rees’
mother. Her attention to detail of the woman’s true life together with
Dungate’s research was very well done. The engaging Jack Richardson played Dungate
himself. Through his performance, Richardson shows us the ways in which
the piece was researched and adds a sense of his own character, which
was a nice touch to feed into the story of the abused soldier. The concept of At Ease is profound. There is no
doubt that this docudrama was intricately thought out and well written
as a result of the research and empathy that Dungate had for the topic
in hand. Unfortunately the piece was not well executed and seemed
lengthy and unengaging due to the lack of emphasis of characterisation,
and unexciting direction. This play will work brilliantly as a radio
production, but did not work well on stage. To 20-06-15 Elizabeth Halpin
17-06-15
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had no sense of connection and really failed to grasp the essence of the
complexity of Alex Rees, which was a shame.