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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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One night on the Western Front
Three ages of Tommo: Dillan McKeever as the younger, Alfie McMillan as the elder and Andrew Brown as Tommo the narrator Private Peaceful
Stage2
Crescent Theatre
**** THE Great War, as it was known at the
time, exploded in summer 2014. It was to be over by Christmas: four
years and around 18 million deaths later, hostilities finally ceased, it
was over before Christmas, in 1918. It was an event which changed the world forever
and Stage2 are marking is centenary with their own adaptation of Michael
Morpurgo’s children’s book of 2003. On both sides of the conflict young men became
cannon fodder and the book contrasts the peaceful, tranquillity of
life in a small Devon village in the Edwardian era with the carnage and
injustice on the Western Front. Young men delighting in humbugs and laughing and
jumping in the river in that endless summer of youth finding themselves
drowning in mud The book was adapted by Simon Reade into Stage2 have taken both versions to create their
own, and, being Stage2, we have a cast of 65, which creates its own
problems. The one-man version makes great demands upon the
actor but it has poignancy, and builds an emotive power, a bond between
actor and audience that is much harder to create with an ensemble piece. That being said Stage2 have made a good fist of
bringing the book to life and have the knack of packing the stage with
people, even in the limited confines of the Crescent Studio, without
making the setting look cluttered.
This is achieved in part by no one taking on the
role of furniture. Crowds, as in real life, are broken down into groups,
and each group is animated, performing its own little, silent or softly
mumbled scene to add to the whole. Everyone has their role to create a
crowd scene rather than bung everyone on and hope for the best. Carrying the whole thing is Andrew Brown as Tommo,
the narrator, a teenager recalling his life and living every precious
second of his brother’s last night on earth. Brown’s is a measured performance in a static
part where he has little to generate interest apart from himself and he
does that well with a voice full of expression and holding a steady,
lilting West Country accent. Director Alex Pugh has cleverly used three actors
for Tommo with Dillan McKeever as the younger and Alfie McMillan as the
elder, and both carried their parts well as did the two Charlies,
Charlie Stewart playing the younger and Mark James the elder. The two pairing of siblings worked well and the
transitions from childhood to what was, even at their young age,
manhood, was cleverly done with just an exchange of hats. The same applied to Molly, the object of both
boys’ affections, with Ellie Waide as the young Molly and Teigan Jones
as the adult who runs foul of the attitudes of the time to sex, and even
worse, pregnancy, out of wedlock. Her harridan of a mother, played by Chloe
Jennings, makes the family’s thoughts on the matter plain when the unwed
teenage mother to be is thrown out of the house. Harridans seem to be in demand with Grandma Wolf,
really an aunt, ending up married to the Colonel in the big house, the
employer of most of the village. Em Hawtin’s Wolf is as friendly as a
tank of scorpions while Dan Nash’s Colonel could be straight from a
Victorian melodrama. It is not easy for boys to play men, particularly
old men, until voices break completely and manly tones appear. Much easier for women with the likes of Wolf and
Molly’s mother and the cruel strict teacher Mrs Munnings, played
abrasively by Sophia Adilypour as well as struggling mum of Tommo,
Charlie and Big Joe, Aldora Lekgegaj. Big Joe, is the eldest brother, a brain damaged
victim of childhood meningitis. It is not an easy role to play
sympathetically but Jack Deakin managed it well. When it comes to abrasive though, the prize must
go to Sgt Hanley, played with real viciousness by George Bandy. He is
the sole reason Charlie is shot at dawn for co A Stage2 addition was 12 nurses, all named, and
all who were killed in the War to End All Wars, who form a sort
of Greek Chorus, looking like the staff of a ward of some hospital of
the damned. They quote from war poems from the likes of Owen,
Brooke and Sassoon, which adds drama to the words but, that is balanced
by the fact a chorus arrangement does loose some of the rhythm and
intimate emotion of the poems.
Worth a mention is the funeral scene of Tommo’s
father, played by George Hannigan, who was a forester, who died when a
tree fell on him. Young Goldie Mutta, gives a beautifully clear, and
pitch perfect a capella singing of Amazing Grace. She has an unusual,
interesting voice that is worth nurturing.
As usual with Stage2 the staging was well thought
out with effectively seven exits in a simple set which gave us Tommo’s
billet, a French pub, Devon market, tied cottage, forest, battle field,
training camp and church all with a just a variation in personnel and
with a change in the excellent lighting and sound from lighting designer
Chris Cuthbert and sound operator Ethan Tarr. We even had the poison
gas, the fog of war and the mists rising around Ypres. Particularly effective was the execution of
Charlie, which relied entirely upon sound and light to make it work. It
made it a stark, emotive scene, started and ended in seconds, after a
couple of emotive speeches. It highlighted the cases of 306 British and
Commonwealth soldiers who were shot at dawn for military offences such
as cowardice or desertion in the Great War and were covered with a
blanket pardon in 206 as after 90 years with all witness dead and papers
missing few cases could be assessed individually. Forty other executions
for crimes including murder and rape were excluded. Many of those pardoned were thought to have been
suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, or shell-shock, as it was
known then and the blanket pardon was to recognize there had certainly
been injustices in some cases – with fictional Charlie’s death clearly
falling into that category. Four of those executed were 17 and not even
legally old enough to have been fighting in their regiments. The names of many of those executed are included
in the programme. The production builds to a moving climax with the
Last Post followed by a minute’s silence and then reveille. A fitting
tribute and a fitting production from one of the best youth theatres
around. To 10-01-15 Roger Clarke
Anyone interested
in joining Stage2 Youth Theatre can contact the company on 07961 018841
or email info@stage2.org.
The company meets on Saturday mornings in term time at Millennium Point
in the City Centre and the age range is seven to 21. There is an open access policy and there are
no auditions to join. There is an intro session to find out about
Stage1, a group within Stage2, for younger members, aged seven to 10,
on Saturday 31 January 2015 from 1.30 to 5pm, with parents expected to
stay for the opening hour. |
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a powerful one man play in 2004 followed by a second version two years
later, a schools edition for a larger cast – a National Youth Theatre
production had 15 actors. 
wardice.
There are no reliable figures or estimates for the number of officers
and NCOs shot by accident, and, let us be honest, other, less accidental
reasons, by their own side, but Hanley would have been a fair candidate
for the other reasons column.