PINK MIST (Bristol Old Vic)****

  

By Cal

Link: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/pink-mist 

Available until: Thursday 22^nd April

Warning: Contains violence, distressing themes, strong language. 12+

Pink Mist tells the story of three boys from Bristol (though Geraint, known as Taff, sounds quite Welsh to me). They all decide to fight in Afghanistan. At first, it’s a bit of a game to them, like the games they played when they were younger.

When they get there, they discover it’s very different from a game.

They get through it because they have to; because it’s what they’ve been trained for. But when they get home, there are no rules and regulations anymore. Injured on the outside and the inside, they go back to the places and people they knew, but the boys are no longer the people once were. Adjustments need to be made, not just by the boys but by the women who love them. But there’s so much to adjust to and they can’t see the world the way they used to after what they’ve experienced.

Owen Sheers’ script is powerful and heart-breaking. Much of it is addressed to the audience, with the characters explaining what has happened and how they are feeling. There are sometimes scenes between them and the other characters, but it seems easier for them to talk to the strangers in the audience than to the people who used to know them. The script is poetic, full of images and occasional rhymes which add to the power and the feeling of being stuck and unable to move forward with their lives because they keep going back to the same rhyme.

Arthur, Hads and Taff are all likeable boys and in the scenes from the past, they have a wonderful camaraderie that has you laughing along with them and longing to enjoy with their games, if not their job. The difference in them in the scenes set in the present is genuinely tragic and perhaps the saddest thing of all is that it really does happen. Pink Mist was inspired by thirty interviews with retired servicemen. Real people who lived through the horror experienced by these boys, both when they were fighting and when they had to try to come back to real life again. And they were the lucky ones. Some didn’t come back at all.

Co-directors John Ratallack and George Mann set it on a mostly clear stage designed by Emma Cains, bringing props in when needed. With all the jumps back and forth in time, it could have been very confusing, but it isn’t. Composer and sound designer Jon Nicholls has created an atmospheric score, setting the fights to music in a way that make them seem beautiful as well as terrible.

Phil Dunster, Peter Edwards and Alex Stedman are brilliant as Arthur, Taff and Hads, bringing forth their likeable personalities as well as their pain. Erin Doherty, Rebecca Hamilton and Zara Ramm play girlfriends Lisa and Gwen and Hads’ mother, waiting for their boys to return but struggling when they do. I’m glad that they haven’t been written as saints. They’re human beings with flaws and while there might be some moments when we might wish they showed more understanding, it is very easy to sympathise with all of them.

Pink Mist is a devastating but respectful and beautiful play.