REVIEW
This is War
by Hannah Moscovitch
Dixon Studio, Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea
5th - 8th June 2019
This is War
by Hannah Moscovitch
Dixon Studio, Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea
5th - 8th June 2019
If a theatre group can be described as entrepreneurial, then Lindisfarne is surely that group. They are back at the dramatic cutting-edge with their latest production, the gruelling drama about Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.
This Is War gets its UK premiere in Lindisfarne's hands.
The play is by Hannah Moscovitch, the dramatist behind the mysterious and haunting sci-fi drama Infinity, performed at the Palace a few years ago. This Is War could hardly be more different. Its keynote is unflinching realism. It reminds us constantly of Jack Nicolson's famous line in another drama about the effects of war on the psyche: “You can't handle the truth.”
We come face to face with four soldiers, three of them combat troops, the fourth a medic, stationed in a forward patrolling base in the thick of Taliban territory.
Added to the expected tensions thrown up by an unseen but lethal enemy, the high casualty rate, and the 50 degree heat, there is another demon at work. Even if they survive physically unscathed, these military combatants will still be left with the horrors in their heads, horrors so embedded as to have become almost part of their DNA.
Even as they do their job on the battlefield, the trauma is starting to take effect in terms of neurotic and sometimes violent behaviour, verging on clinical mental illness.
From Journey's End to Full Metal Jacket, stories with this sort of theme have been old before. Moscovitch, though, gives her play a new, and wholly realistic and contemporaneous, twist. One of the four soldiers is a beautiful and sensual woman.
Master Cpl Tanya Young (Leah-May Smerdon) is a professional, clearly as tough and capable as any of the men. But she is also alluring, and any notion about sex being kept separated from the battlefield is quickly blown away.
Two of the men take a predatory approach to Tanya (the third is gay). Tanya herself seems to regard sex as another form of therapy that may just give her the sleep she so desperately needs and craves. For the men, the implications are rather different.
Age old forces of jealousy and male competitiveness get thrown into an already torrid brew.
The performances, by Smerdon, Benton Hodges, Nick Bright and Tom McCarthy, all sizzle. Clearly deeply thought through, and sincere, they illuminate the human beings beneath the uniform, the sweat and the Afghan dirt. Young people like this are still being sent out to fight for us, in Afghanistan and other hellholes, right now. We can't just detach ourselves from them, as if they belong to another planet. We bear a responsibility for what becomes of them. This Is War is more than just a powerful night of theatre. It is a bloody great moral prod.
Still, it is, in the hands of its talented and resourceful director Ben Smerdon, a fine production as well. My only criticism of the play is its abrupt ending. Nobody expects a situation as messy as the one on-stage to be resolved in any way neatly. All the same, a little bit more development of the story would have been welcome. That in itself is a tribute to the play's effectiveness. Harrowing though it is, you are left wanting more.
This Is War has been staged in the week of the D-Day 75th commemorations. All through the week, survivors of the Normandy landings could be heard recalling the bloodshed and sacrifice.
D-Day is history, but war is continuous, is now. Lindisfarne's players, all themselves young, remind us how the toll continues. The fact that they do so in the intimate confines of the Dixon Studio theatre, makes the impact all the more forceful. As you eyeball these blitzed-out characters, the power of the performances draws you right into the conflict zone, almost making you, too, a player, and a victim.
Here, then is another reminder of the power of theatre to evoke raw reality in a way that no other medium, perhaps, achieve. Can't handle the truth? Watch This Is War and you have no choice.
Review: Tom King
This Is War gets its UK premiere in Lindisfarne's hands.
The play is by Hannah Moscovitch, the dramatist behind the mysterious and haunting sci-fi drama Infinity, performed at the Palace a few years ago. This Is War could hardly be more different. Its keynote is unflinching realism. It reminds us constantly of Jack Nicolson's famous line in another drama about the effects of war on the psyche: “You can't handle the truth.”
We come face to face with four soldiers, three of them combat troops, the fourth a medic, stationed in a forward patrolling base in the thick of Taliban territory.
Added to the expected tensions thrown up by an unseen but lethal enemy, the high casualty rate, and the 50 degree heat, there is another demon at work. Even if they survive physically unscathed, these military combatants will still be left with the horrors in their heads, horrors so embedded as to have become almost part of their DNA.
Even as they do their job on the battlefield, the trauma is starting to take effect in terms of neurotic and sometimes violent behaviour, verging on clinical mental illness.
From Journey's End to Full Metal Jacket, stories with this sort of theme have been old before. Moscovitch, though, gives her play a new, and wholly realistic and contemporaneous, twist. One of the four soldiers is a beautiful and sensual woman.
Master Cpl Tanya Young (Leah-May Smerdon) is a professional, clearly as tough and capable as any of the men. But she is also alluring, and any notion about sex being kept separated from the battlefield is quickly blown away.
Two of the men take a predatory approach to Tanya (the third is gay). Tanya herself seems to regard sex as another form of therapy that may just give her the sleep she so desperately needs and craves. For the men, the implications are rather different.
Age old forces of jealousy and male competitiveness get thrown into an already torrid brew.
The performances, by Smerdon, Benton Hodges, Nick Bright and Tom McCarthy, all sizzle. Clearly deeply thought through, and sincere, they illuminate the human beings beneath the uniform, the sweat and the Afghan dirt. Young people like this are still being sent out to fight for us, in Afghanistan and other hellholes, right now. We can't just detach ourselves from them, as if they belong to another planet. We bear a responsibility for what becomes of them. This Is War is more than just a powerful night of theatre. It is a bloody great moral prod.
Still, it is, in the hands of its talented and resourceful director Ben Smerdon, a fine production as well. My only criticism of the play is its abrupt ending. Nobody expects a situation as messy as the one on-stage to be resolved in any way neatly. All the same, a little bit more development of the story would have been welcome. That in itself is a tribute to the play's effectiveness. Harrowing though it is, you are left wanting more.
This Is War has been staged in the week of the D-Day 75th commemorations. All through the week, survivors of the Normandy landings could be heard recalling the bloodshed and sacrifice.
D-Day is history, but war is continuous, is now. Lindisfarne's players, all themselves young, remind us how the toll continues. The fact that they do so in the intimate confines of the Dixon Studio theatre, makes the impact all the more forceful. As you eyeball these blitzed-out characters, the power of the performances draws you right into the conflict zone, almost making you, too, a player, and a victim.
Here, then is another reminder of the power of theatre to evoke raw reality in a way that no other medium, perhaps, achieve. Can't handle the truth? Watch This Is War and you have no choice.
Review: Tom King
Following an ill-fated operation in the most volatile region of Afghanistan, four Canadian soldiers recount different versions of the mission. Their stories reveal how the human equation -- personal relationships and sexual tensions -- can affect the outcome. Step into the ravaged psyche of the contemporary soldier in uncompromising terms with this dramatic story of modern warfare. Hannah Moscovitch is a Canadian playwright and This is War won the Toronto Critics Award in 2013.
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Cast
Master Corporal Tanya Young – Leah-May Smerdon
Private Jonny Henderson – Benton Hodges
Sergeant Stephen Hughes – Nick Bright
Sergeant Chris Anders (medic) – Tom McCarthy
Director: Ben Smerdon
Master Corporal Tanya Young – Leah-May Smerdon
Private Jonny Henderson – Benton Hodges
Sergeant Stephen Hughes – Nick Bright
Sergeant Chris Anders (medic) – Tom McCarthy
Director: Ben Smerdon
Toronto Theatre Critics Award Winning Play, 2013
There will be a retiring collection on behalf of SSAFA (The Armed Forces Charity)
This production contains material of a mature nature and is not recommended for under 16's.
Adults £15, Concs. £14, Students over 16 - £12
For tickets
https://southendtheatres.org.uk/Online/tickets-this-is-war-southend-2019
There will be a retiring collection on behalf of SSAFA (The Armed Forces Charity)
This production contains material of a mature nature and is not recommended for under 16's.
Adults £15, Concs. £14, Students over 16 - £12
For tickets
https://southendtheatres.org.uk/Online/tickets-this-is-war-southend-2019
Show info
In performance at Dixon Studio, Palace Theatre
Weds 5th – 8th June
7.45 pm with Saturday matinee at 2.30 pm
Tickets £15 adults £14 concessions £12 for students 16+
There will be a retiring collection on behalf of SSAFA the Armed Forces charity.
Not suitable for under 16.
In performance at Dixon Studio, Palace Theatre
Weds 5th – 8th June
7.45 pm with Saturday matinee at 2.30 pm
Tickets £15 adults £14 concessions £12 for students 16+
There will be a retiring collection on behalf of SSAFA the Armed Forces charity.
Not suitable for under 16.