Toy Soldier by Helen Goodman & Joseph Dewey, The Union Theatre, 229 Union Street, London SE1 | until 18 October 2026. ⭐⭐ Review by William Russell.

Photo credit: Stephen Leslie Productions

Toy Soldier

by Helen Goodman & Joseph Dewey

The Union Theatre, 229 Union Street, London SE1 | until 18 October 2026.

⭐⭐ Review by William Russell.

“A disaster which could have been worth watching.”

The play is well worth watching, the production is a disaster. It is about how the Falkland islanders behaved during the Falklands War, or at last the story of a sister and brother confronted with the invaders looked back at when the woman returns to the islands in 2002 to clear up the family home after the death of her mother. Looking through things to pack she finds items that remind her of the past, including the tiny toy soldiers her brother used to paint. What we learn should be, could be, of great interest because as with the Channel Islands and the Germans things got very complicated. But in fact it is sabotaged by the decision to use countless video clips projected on the back wall of the set which it is virtually impossible to make out as the set is exceedingly fussy as director of the play – Goodman – and of the videos – Dewey they have only themselves to blame for using what Hannah Calarco has created. In itself there is nothing wrong with the set, it is just not one on which anything can be projected. Given that the Union has a perfectly plain back wall behind it the decision not to use that passes understanding. As a director – the four strong cast strive hard – Goodman really needs to get them to speak out. Conversations may have had to be whispered, but in the theatre, voices have to be projected and when even in the front row one has problems deciphering what is being said something is disastrously wrong. Jane's secret is that she gave shelter to a wounded Argentinian soldier, something her seventeen-year-old brother Billy finds out. His hobby is painting toy soldiers, and he is obsessed with joining the war against the invaders, something his older friend Mark, a Fascist in the making, encourages while having no intention of actually doing anything himself. As the evening dragged on relentlessly and those boxes Jane was packing kept being opened and shut and pushed around while the soldier lay comatose in a corner of the set – his wound seems to be a damaged leg - and the inevitable voices from the past echoed from the videos being screened things simply went from bad to worse. There really is an interesting and timely play there if only they had staged it and forgotten all the trimmings.

Cast

Nico Conde – Alejo

Matthew Edgar – Billy

Paul Gorman – Mark

Faye Bennett – Jane

Creatives

Director – Helen Goodman

Video Director – Joseph Dewey

Lighting Design – Vittorio Venrta

Sound Design – Joseph Dewey

Set Design – Hannah Calarco