PRIVATE PEACEFUL (Box Less Theatre/Barn Theatre)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://barntheatre.org.uk/privatepeaceful-stream-page-the-barn-theatre

Available until: 2^nd May

Michael Morpurgo is probably most famous for his novel War Horse, which was adapted for the stage and performed at the National Theatre. The production was available to watch on the National Theatre’s website earlier in lockdown.

But he wrote a lot of other books too, including Private Peaceful, which is also set in wartime. There are three Peaceful brothers – Joe, Charlie and Tommo. Joe is a lovely disabled boy who is very kind and loves animals. Charlie and Tommo spend a lot of time together and they make friends with a girl called Molly. Some of the story is about when they are children and part of it is about when Charlie and Tommo go to fight in the war.

It is a very good play, but it has some very disturbing scenes. The disturbing war scenes had to be there because they’re important and they are staged and performed really well, but I was really shocked by a scene where Charlie and Tommo spy on Molly when she’s getting changed. I think this is very disrespectful and at least in the play, nobody ever finds out about it. I think it is really important for people who watch the play to know this is wrong (and not just men and boys – I have heard of girls watching other girls undress as a way of bullying them and getting away with it because ‘you’re all girls’ and there are probably unkind gay and bi women.) I am sure at least 99% of people of all genders would never spy on someone in that way because they know it’s wrong, but Charlie and Tommo are supposed to be good people. They are good people, but they do this very bad thing.

Apart from that, I really loved the play. I think Simon Reade has written a few different adaptations of the play for different sized casts, but this one is for two actors. It is mostly told in the first person by Tommo, who is played by Emily Costello, the first female actor to play the role professionally. She also says the lines by other female characters and James Demaine says the lines for every other character who appears, including Charlie and some of the other soldiers. This method of telling the story worked really well and the action did not feel disjointed. It also meant that as a lot of the action was described, the two actors could keep a bit of distance without it looking odd. For example, Tommo rides on Charlie’s back at one point and the actors are actually side by side and at a slight distance, but it still works and it still makes sense.

Alexander Knott is the director and he has created a production which is sometimes physically active and busy and sometimes quiet and still. This works really well to help set the moods of the different scenes. There are a few different props – at one point, Charlie and Tommo have their own versions of the same prop, but it’s obvious there is really just one. It is probably done that way because they’re not allowed to share props, but it works really well because there’s almost a sense of the two boys being in different times, one in the moment and one looking back on it. Sam Rowcliffe-Tanner’s lighting can also change the mood very effectively and there are a couple of really powerful blackout moments. There is also original music by Harry Smith and music which is performed live by James Demaine. I really like the music.

The two cast members are both really good. Emily Costello performs the role of Tommo brilliantly and it doesn’t seem strange at all for the role to be played by a woman. It helps to show how young Tommo is (he’s too young to go to war really), but the most important thing is that the character is played by a very good actor. I accepted Tommo as a man and most of the time, I completely forgot that he wasn’t. Ms Costello plays Tommo as a brave boy and later man, small but very determined. She also characterises the female characters, particularly Molly, very well when she tells us what these characters said.

James Demaine characterises all his characters really well too and seems very comfortable switching between two characters and having a whole conversation with himself. He is kind and protective as Charlie, sneering and bullying as a very nasty soldier, really lovely as a young airman the two boys meet… he plays so many different roles and brings them all to life.

Private Peaceful is a difficult play to watch because of the subject matter, but this is a very good adaptation which tells the story beautifully and keeps the actors safe.