We don’t really need this unnecessary revival of Willis Hall’s ageing and creaky drama of war in the jungle to remind us that war is hell.
Back in the fifties, the occasional swear word, smutty song and obscene gesture must have seemed as shocking to Royal Court audiences as the central argument of life and death in times of war. But time hasn’t been kind to Hall’s work and Josie Rourke’s generally flat and pedestrian revival does little to suggest why it should be back on stage.
In the jungle of Malaya - Lucy Osborne’s dripping, claustrophobic set is one of the night’s few genuine successes - a group of ill-prepared young soldiers find themselves in charge of a prisoner. That simply sets them a taxing dilemma - what are they to do with him?
What follows is a wordy, well-meaning debate on the rights and wrongs of war that goes nowhere until reaching a sudden and entirely predictable climax, which is meant to be tragic shocking but is actually long overdue.
Tom Brooke plays barrack room lawyer and not entirely convincing humanitarian Private Bamforth. He argues his case against the old guard soldier Sergeant Mitchem, an uninteresting, flat performance from Jason Merrells.
As they bat their opposing cases to and fro, Rourke never manages to find a moment when we feel the heat of debate or the danger of their situation.
In support, there are nice touches from Craig Gallivan and David Dawson- even though there is far too much camp in his approach to the Geordie wireless operator - but an under-used Dorian Healy has little to do but stand around looking alternately angry and bored.
Ultimately, the most effective performance is the silent Dai Tabuchi as the battalion’s Japanese prisoner, his expression of increasing fear and resignation to his fate saying far more than all the verbose posturing at the centre of the stage.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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