Theatre
Not About Heroes
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
Neil Cooper
Four stars
You can hear the bombs from the start in Philip Howard's touring revival of Stephen MacDonald's play focusing on the relationship between poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen while incarcerated in what in 1917 Edinburgh was Craiglockhart War Hospital. As they sound, the two men face each other at opposite ends of Kenneth MacLeod's abstract, marble-patterned set, dressed in the formal trappings of a military uniform that may give them standing, but which keeps more personal feelings thoroughly buttoned up.
As these two shellshocked casualties find common ground after being thrown together, fanboy Owen gradually grows in stature as the emotionally stunted man who becomes his mentor opens up a whole new world for him before the inevitable occurs.
It's easy to make such a portmanteau piece look small, but in Howard's hands this Eden Court Theatre, Inverness production, lifts MacDonald's play out of its own seeming stiff-upper-lipped roots and invests it with a theatrical richness that gives it gravitas and depth. This is done in part by a use of choreographed movement overseen by EJ Boyle which puts flesh on the horrors of Owen's dreams to accentuate the futility of war.
Central to the production's over-riding intensity are the performances, and, as the poets, both Ali Watt and Thomas Cotran lend Sassoon and Owen an uptight vulnerability and sheer human frailty that clearly fuelled their art. A fascinating addition too comes by way of the third figure of an officers' batman who seems to be a perennial spectre from the trenches, a piece of silent cannon fodder caught in the crossfire so these great men's elegies can take flight.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here