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Bravo 22 Company The New Alexandra Theatre ***** THE most powerful anti-war messages, in
books such as All Quiet on the Western Front, or plays such as Journey's
End, have no political content, no moralising, no sermons – they just
tell it as it is. Matter of fact, f***ing warts and all. Joining that number is The Two Worlds of
Charlie F, which started life as a theatrical project from the
Masterclass charity to aid in the recovery of wounded, injured and sick
military personnel. It put soldiers on stage to tell their story,
therapeutic theatre, but it has become a powerful voice in its own
right. Owen Sheers' play is littered with industrial
language but then again war and battle are a soldier's factory, wounding
and death occupational hazards and this is not a playwright's idea of
what it might have been like, this is a glimpse of their world, a real
world through the words, thoughts and experiences of soldiers who have
been there, done that and changed for ever. It is a world that is sometimes heartbreaking, at
times funny, at times plumbing the depths of despair but always
inspiring that somehow the human spirit can overcome whatever fate dumps
on it. Among all the emotions is also anger at the lives
that have been lost or shattered in our name for wars and causes in
which we had no say. Our guide is Corporal Charlie Fowler, the Charlie
F of the title, played by Royal Marine Commando Lance Corporal Cassidy
Little, a Canadian from Newfoundland.
The cast of 18 has five professional actors among
its number and you would be hard pressed to say which they are but,
Little would be high on anyone's list – except for the fact he has lost
his right leg below the knee and has chunks of his battle scarred left
leg missing after being injured by an improvised explosive device in
Afghanistan last year. He is currently at the Defence Medical
Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court in Surrey. He is surely has a bright future on stage if he
ever decides to leave the army. Rifleman Danny Shaw, who plays
Riflemen Elroy Jenkins, lost both legs to an IED in Afghanistan in 2009
and it was fascinating to see how soldiers such as Shaw perfect balance
without legs by perching on an aerobics ball playing table tennis with a
balloon. Then there was one of the professional actors
Darren Swift, who plays Corporal Chris Ward. Swift was a tracker dog
handler in the Royal Green Jackets and lost both his legs in a terrorist
attack in Northern Ireland in the 1990s. He has built a new career as
adventurer and actor. Sheers and Director Stephen Rayne spent hours
interviewing soldiers before finally creating a script based on what
they had heard. For the cast their own experiences were often too raw,
too emotional to relate as themselves, so they play characters relating
experiences that may have been theirs or someone else's – sadly, there
were plenty of exoeriences for Sheers and Rayne to choose from We learn of the reasons, some noble, some
desperate, for joining up, of the comradeship and even the euphoria of
battle. Then there is the pain and even the deaths of innocents, the
villagers, real people hidden under the sanitising blanket of collateral
damage we hear so much about.
There is the drug induced return home usually to
the special unit at the QE hospital where the long process of patching
up broken minds and bodies begins. We learn of the breakdowns in relationship, how
soldiers see themselves as two people, the man before and the man after
being blown to smithereens, the two worlds. We hear of the irrational and cruel behaviour to
wives, girlfriends and even children, and the suffering and pain wives
and girlfriends have to endure as the soldiers and everyone around them
pay the human cost of war. There are the nightmares, the inability to
sleep, the fear of being alone in the darkness of the night - and the
ever constant pain. Jason Carr's musical score includes an amusing
song about the apothecaries' cave of drugs the wounded and injured are
compelled to take but taking drugs for pain or depression or mood swings
or even all three, and then drugs to counteract side effects of the
cocktail of drugs already being taken for pain is a way of life and,
along with addiction to powerful painkillers, is just another
occupational hazard. And the drugs reduce the ability to function so,
like many wounded soldiers around the country, some cast members
have to balance how much medication they can afford to take for the pain
against their ability to function, in this case to rehearse or perform.
For an actor each performance is a challenge, for the members of Bravo
22 it is another battle to be fought and won. There are telling moments, such as the opening
when Charlie F swears and attacks QE nurses, his girlfriend and mother,
his body in Birmingham but his mind still in the hands of is Taliban
captors. Then there is the matter of fact lecture on
treating injuries with battlefield dressings after a soldier, carrying
75 kilos of kit in 100 degree plus temperatures is caught by an IED. It
is not just bang, a leg gone and wake up in Birmingham a few days later
with a wooden leg and a parrot.
The list of likely injuries goes on and on as the
impact of the blast creates a domino effect on the body to the point
where survival is a miracle in itself from the shattered thigh bone
smashing though the pelvis to the soldier's gun fracturing his own jaw.
The final lesson is never to forget to wear blast pants to protect the
bits most men would least like to lose.
The play, produced by driving force Alice Driver,
had two sell out performances in The Theatre Royal Haymarket in January
and now it is starting a tour to Cardiff, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
and the West End supported by the Royal British Legion. This is no charity gig, no come and support the wounded troops job. This is valid, raw theatre, well crafted and beautifully acted by a largely amateur cast. It is at times gloriously funny, at times uncomfortable to watch, at times moving but it is first and foremost a play, a highly watchable play which has something valid to say and deserves to be seen and heard on merit – particularly by the MPs who voted to send our troops to war in the first place. Its standing ovation was richly deserved.
To 21-07-12 Roger Clarke A view from the second front ***** HAS there ever been such an emotional standing
ovation at the Alex than was given by the first night audience for this
remarkable story of courage, suffering and the road to recovery endured
by heroic soldiers? And how the cast deserved the plaudits, because
many of the actors on stage were actually servicemen and women
critically injured by IEDs (improvised explosive devices) in Afghanistan
and who survived with the help of doctors and nurses at the Queen
Elizabeth Hospital. So it was entirely appropriate that, after a
successful West End run in January, the Owen Sheers play should begin
its UK tour in Birmingham, and there's no hiding the severity of the
injuries. Like handsome Canadian Cassidy Little, a former
marine, who plays Cpl Charlie Fowler. His right leg was blown off just
below the knee and his left leg shows terrible scars, but he is able to
bring plenty of humour as well as drama into the true story. And Rifleman Dan Shaw. He lost both legs in
Afghanistan, but, in the role of Rifleman Leroy Jenkins, plays 'ping
pong' with a physiotherapist, using a balloon, while perched on a large
medicine ball, before somersaulting back onto the floor at the end of
the game. We hear of a wife's reference to her husband
leaving for the war as one man, but returning home as another in the
'Regiment of Wounded', the importance of soldiers wearing their 'blast
pants', the dream world of morphine-induced hallucinations, and how two
women in burkhas knelt in prayer for the badly injured troops in a
Birmingham hospital. There's even an amusing musical number about
crippled soldiers taking their many pills, and on opening night a bit of
unexpected drama when the actors had to leave the stage for a short time
through a computer hiccup. Sound effects of helicopter gunships and
horrifying explosions add to the raw realism of this window on war. Some professional actors are also used in the
play, directed by Stephen Rayne and produced by Alice Driver. It runs to
21.07.12, and should be seen by all politicians who send men and women
to war. *Inevitably there is a considerable amount of
barrack room and battlefront language in the play Paul Marston
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