Oran
Mor, Glasgow
Four
stars
Prime
Ministers telling very public lies in order to save their own skin isn’t a
recent phenomenon. As this revival of Stuart Hepburn’s Second World War play
first seen at Oran Mor’s A Play, a Pie and a Pint lunchtime theatre initiative
in 2017 makes clear, when Winston Churchill announced the so-called ‘miracle of
Dunkirk’ that saw 350,000 British troops evacuated to safety, he wasn’t quite
telling the whole story. In fact, he had cut a deal that saw the men of the 51st
Highland Division hung out to dry as collateral damage on the frontline, where
9,000 of them were forced to surrender after being ordered to fight to their
last bullet.
Hepburn
illustrates this gross injustice through the eyes of Young Callum, who
joins the regiment with his pals as something of a lark, with any prospect of war
a far-off abstraction. The adventure he embarks on as he is thrown a lifeline
in France by a young woman called Catriona following Churchill’s betrayal is
both a life-changing romance and a wake-up call regarding the dishonesty of
those in power.
Hepburn
frames his own production with Callum telling his story through a series of letters
to his younger brother, while his older self watches over him. The result is a
moving and poignant study of how young lives can be turned upside down and used
as cannon fodder. In Callum’s case, he at least finds salvation after suffering
such heavy losses.
Hepburn’s
script weaves all this together with an intelligence and lightness of touch
that remains the right side of sentimental, and is gifted with a trio of lovely
performances. James Rottger makes a wide-eyed Young Callum, whose getting of
wisdom comes through Ashley Smith’s sparky and more street-smart Catriona. Ron Donachie
brings an avuncular gravitas to illustrate the all too real human cost of a piece
of history shamefully hidden by those who helped shape it.
The Herald, March 18th 2020
ends
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