PRIVATE PEACEFUL | UK TOUR @ ROYAL LYCEUM, EDINBURGH
★★★
“Cain sets out his stall as one to watch with an energetic turn that enchants and engages…”
AT near 90 minutes with no interval, Simon Reade’s adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel, Private Peaceful, is a mammoth learn for any actor. It’s a challenge that Benjamin Cain, making his professional debut, rises to impressively.
A solo piece, Cain is Private Tommo Peaceful, one of the many underage soldiers who took the King’s Shilling only to find themselves thrown into the front line trenches of World War One, unprepared for the horrors they would face, themes Morpurgo would later develop more fully in War Horse.
Told in flashback, during a night spent checking his watch, we find Tommo reflecting on his ’18 years of yesterdays and tomorrows’ as he waits for the sun to rise once more. Flitting from character to character, with just a lightening of his voice here and a change in gait there, it’s an agile and endearing performance form Cain as he brings to life family and friends, deftly recapturing the innocence of childhood.
From his first day at school, brother Charlie by his side, to the death of his father, meeting his first love Molly, poaching on the Colonel’s land the fateful day an army recruiting officer came to enlist the men of Iddesleigh, Tommo recalls a world of service and servants where the class system remains in full bloom.
In doing so, Cain sets out his stall as one to watch with an energetic turn that enchants and engages despite the sheer volume of detail crammed into the allotted time, meaning both story and performer are left with little time to breathe; to take stock and fully explore the impact of the tragedy and atrocity of the piece.
Staged with just the clever use of a camp bed to shift the action from the home front to the trenches and no man’s land of Belgium, Adam Foley’s striking lighting design is simple but effective and brings real threat to the aesthetic. Jason Barnes’ sound design completes the illusion and adds the ‘thunder’ of war.
Not only adapted, but also directed by Reade, this production could benefit from a second pair of eyes – and an interval – as there are times the storytelling becomes confused, while the conceit of the piece is so obvious from the start that it softens what should be a viscerally raw denouement.
Nonetheless, as a comment on the futility of war, especially in these troubled times, Private Peaceful remains a poignant caution against allowing history to repeat itself.
Full details and tickets HERE
