Our Boys is a bit of an enigma. The play itself passes off as a sort of hospital-cum-army drama, a cross between the boring bits of casualty and the marvellous bits of... Well.
Suddenly you hit a bit of a brick wall with trying to describe something like this. It's understated, laddish, and a little bit brutal... But its also genuine, sad, heartwarming and upsetting. Our Boys has a balance which few other plays (at least this year) seem to have found.
With a cast of six - three incredibly well known, three who deserve to share that fame - and set in a single room, there is a sense of both entrapment and comradeship, loyalty and almost cabin fever which sets in with the more traumatically injured 'boys'. I use air quotes because their actors are men, and none of them look like boys at all, but they are just that. One celebrates his 21st birthday, and one is teased that his medical malady can recur in the early twenties - his response 'but I'm early twenties!!'
There's a sense that Our Boys wants to show off the horrors of war, the obedience which comes with slipping on the uniform, the stress which comes when that obedience is tested - for it naturally is (though to explain would give the game away), and how their carefully constructed hierarchies fall away when they're apart. A form of 'United we stand, divided we fall' settles within many, many films and TV shows, and it is just as present here.
The cast work together beautifully, each falling into their roles perfectly, and all simultaneously showing a side of them I dont think I've ever seen before. Jolyon Coy, Laurence Fox and Cian Barry are standouts, though Lewis, Darvill and Reeves are just as brilliant. The ensemble all have their niches - not quite stereotypes but not too far from it - and not a line is wasted. The emotions run high and the fine line between laughter and fury is well explored in the tiny hospital room.
I loved it, and its hard to find something to dislike about such a neat piece.
Suddenly you hit a bit of a brick wall with trying to describe something like this. It's understated, laddish, and a little bit brutal... But its also genuine, sad, heartwarming and upsetting. Our Boys has a balance which few other plays (at least this year) seem to have found.
With a cast of six - three incredibly well known, three who deserve to share that fame - and set in a single room, there is a sense of both entrapment and comradeship, loyalty and almost cabin fever which sets in with the more traumatically injured 'boys'. I use air quotes because their actors are men, and none of them look like boys at all, but they are just that. One celebrates his 21st birthday, and one is teased that his medical malady can recur in the early twenties - his response 'but I'm early twenties!!'
There's a sense that Our Boys wants to show off the horrors of war, the obedience which comes with slipping on the uniform, the stress which comes when that obedience is tested - for it naturally is (though to explain would give the game away), and how their carefully constructed hierarchies fall away when they're apart. A form of 'United we stand, divided we fall' settles within many, many films and TV shows, and it is just as present here.
The cast work together beautifully, each falling into their roles perfectly, and all simultaneously showing a side of them I dont think I've ever seen before. Jolyon Coy, Laurence Fox and Cian Barry are standouts, though Lewis, Darvill and Reeves are just as brilliant. The ensemble all have their niches - not quite stereotypes but not too far from it - and not a line is wasted. The emotions run high and the fine line between laughter and fury is well explored in the tiny hospital room.
I loved it, and its hard to find something to dislike about such a neat piece.
Runs through 15th December 2012
Attendance mandatory. Sir, yes, Sir.
No comments:
Post a Comment