|
|
|
|
|
|
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. |
|
|
Horrors the cast have never known Killed, July 17, 1916 Hall Green Little Theatre Youth Theatre ***
IMAGINATION boggles at how this moving story of a
young man who volunteered for service in the First World War came to be
written. The programme does not credit anybody with authorship –
possibly because no fewer than six people were involved, though that is
not really much of an excuse for ignoring them. Anyway, it was created in 1978, 60 years after the Armistice, by Linda Bassett, Barbara Marten, Philip Whitchurch, Rob Bettinson, Fred Hawksley and Tony Flynn. They deserve commendation – and so do the talented team of youngsters who have brought history to life in this studio production under the direction of Roy Palmer. Some of the talented youngsters involved in Killed with (left to right, back row) Anna Garret, Jessica Brown; (front) Sami Moghraby, James Kay and Daniel Robert Beaton It is a
challenging task for young people who fortunately have no concept of the
horrors that lay in wait for soldiers not much older than themselves who
volunteered for service in France – but it is one to which they rise
commendably and which must surely have made a profound impression on
them. There are
memorable lines calculated to sear the soul. “Whose bloody war? Not
mine. I don't hate Germans.” “Every Bosch you shoot shortens the war by
one minute.” “I don't want to die.” There is the account of the sighting
of a rat the size of a rabbit.
There are
two beautifully accomplished scenes in which three girls sit
side-by-side in a munitions factory. Two of them do the talking – one,
Jessica Brown (Elsie), defending her conscientious-objector husband, the
other contrasting him with her own man, who is somewhere out at the
front. The third, Anna Garret, says nothing, but she has earlier made an
impassioned speech at a recruiting drive. Impressively, all three become
automatons as they put hands and arms to work to mime the creation of
bullets. James Kay
scores as Billy, the hapless young man who volunteers for service. His
is a big role and he carries it off splendidly – as indeed do Grace
Bygrave, as his wife, and Daniel Robert Beaton, as Tommy, the friend who
goes with him to the trenches. Luke
Desmond (Private Walsh) touches the heartstrings as he realises how his
friendship with Billy is destined to end, and John Bourbonneux is the
leather-lunged regimental sergeant major. Sami Moghraby (Captain Howard)
is equally adept in dishing out the decibels, although I am not certain
that this particular talent is needed when conducting a court martial. The production gives a stirring account of life as it explores the personal catastrophes of war, both on the home front and in the trenches. No punches are pulled. It is totally absorbing and it deserves more support than it received on the first night. To 1.5.10. John Slim
Box Office : 0121 707 1874 On-line booking http://www.hglt.org.uk/ |
|
|
|
