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A matter of life and death
Private PeacefulMalvern Festival Theatre**** WHEN popular children’s author Michael
Morpurgo visited the battlefields of the First World War in northern
France, he was profoundly disturbed at the number of British soldiers
who were executed during that conflict for cowardice, desertion or for
sometimes trivial neglect of duty such as falling asleep while on duty.
The military in no way recognised the impact of
shell shock on the troops in those days; a summary court martial was
conducted and then the victim was shot by firing squad. This prompted Morpurgo to write ‘Private
Peaceful’, the story of a simple Cornish peasant boy, who signed up with
his older brother to fight for his country. The story begins with his first day at school,
describes his home life in the village watched over by his older brother
Charlie and their friend Molly. The vicissitudes of his life include the
accidental loss of his father. The plot follows their story up to the
day they enlist and are then trained and transported to Flanders’ fields
to fight the Germans. This stage adaptation adjusts the end of the
story, but presents us with the travesty of a young man, who
distinguishes himself in standing by his brother and fellow soldier in
defiance of a reckless order to attack, paying the ultimate penalty. This stage adaptation of Morpurgo’s childrens’
novel is less a dramatisation and more of a dramatised rendering of
Morpurgo’s story. The solo performer, who acts the part of Tommo
Peaceful, recounts his experiences for the most part very faithfully in
the way that the ‘writer’ does in the novel. He describes the experience of starting school
very much from the perspective of the 5 year old, we see the various
events through the eyes of the growing and simple country boy. There are two alternating performers and on
Thursday Paul Chequer gave an energetic and splendid portrayal of Tommo
Peaceful. Supported by the use of excellent sound effects, especially
during the war phase of the story, with shells, flares, gunfire and the
like creating an evocative atmosphere, the terror of his experience at
the front was very powerfully conveyed. Lighting was similarly used to good effect; in
other respects the set was minimal – a background scene of a bleak
countryside depicted on the cyclorama with Tommo’s bed the only
furniture, which was cleverly transformed in the war scenes into a
barbed wire barricade. Chequer’s performance was brilliant as he
recalled the story of Tommo’s life from its closing moments; as he
recalls the various scenes of his life he switches between his own voice
and that of others with appropriate changes of accent. His use of mime
and the physical depiction of character and incident were excellent. The
end too was powerful and chilling. The portrayal of Charlie particularly as a
Christ-like figure laying down his life for his fellow soldiers was
poignant. The whole production was in the final analysis quite lengthy
for a single performer to sustain, and the final result more a
brilliantly dramatized narrative than a play. To 19-04-14. Tim Crow
17/04/14
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