Review: Private Peaceful at The Lowry, 3rd September - 18th November

Private Peaceful
The Lowry
3rd September - 18th November

8/10

THE INSISTENT ticking of a watch marks the opening of this moving play by Michael Morpurgo. The lead, Alexander Campbell, provides an exuberant one-man performance that is almost as exhausting to watch as it surely is to perform. The production’s lack of interval must prove challenging for this actor - on the other hand this allows the audience to become fully immersed in the drama and as Morpurgo remarked, “They forget that they are watching a play”.

The stage opens onto the young WWI soldier Tommo, a fresh optimistic West Country farm boy who recalls the story of his short life, which has led him to the front line. Campbell’s solo performance must be applauded for his seamless transition between characters; he transforms from an aggressive sergeant into a whimpering young soldier and back again with swift changes of posture and accent. Such an ambitious adaptation by the director Simon Reed could have resulted in disaster; however, Campbell rose to the challenge and left the audience astounded.

The intimacy created through the use of only one-actor results in a surge of empathy in the audience, principally felt in the explosive finale when Tommo is unjustly sentenced to death by firing squad for protecting his wounded brother. For those who have read the book, Reed’s adapted ending may arise unexpectedly. However, as he pointed out in the after show Q&A session, such a change to the plot is essential for the book’s transition to stage. In a researched attempt to embellish his performance, Campbell spoke of how he visited the Imperial War Museum to perfect his shell shock interpretation. However his efforts fell short of his aspirations, as all that was to be gained from the shell shock routine was a faint recollection of an excitable dog. Nonetheless, this is the only real fault we could find in the play as a whole. Morpurgo’s basis of four real-life soldiers lent the play an authenticity which was enriched further by the iconic WWI imagery; a German suspended in barbed wire, a terrified troop awaiting their destiny. In addition the wartime children’s rhyme “Oranges and Lemons” weaves itself eerily through the dialogue. Don’t be put off if historic nostalgia isn’t your thing, this play is well written, well directed and very well received.