WELCOME HOME. To 21 August.

London

WELCOME HOME
by Tony Marchant

Landor Theatre, 70 Landor Road, London, SW9 9PH To 21 August 2004
(Northern Line to Clapham North, then 2 minutes walk)
Tue-Sat 7.30pm
Runs 1hr 30min No interval

TICKETS: 020 7737 7276
Review: Peter Kinsey 10 August

A timely reminder that so-called small wars leave behind big psychological scars.More veterans have taken their lives since the 1982 Falklands War than died in the actual conflict. Tony Marchant's story of five soldiers returning home to bury a friend killed in action, shows why. The impending funeral exposes tensions and problems the characters face in the future.

Marchant makes language do most of the work. Despite inability to articulate deep feelings, the soldiers speak on the surface with straightforward, occasionally formal, directness. A difficult balancing act to sustain with dramatic conviction, it pays dividends when the shell of emotional silence dividing them starts to crack.

The elite Parachute Regiment, with its strict code of discipline and group loyalty, is mirrored by Dark Horse Theatre's five-strong cast, graduates of Guildford's GSA, some recent classmates. Their strong ensemble playing lifts the play, underlined by director Joe Austin's use of overlapping dialogue, an exciting device, especially at times of crisis.

Initial stereotypes (thick squaddie, sensitive soul, severe corporal) soon evaporate as characterisations become more detailed. Ian Coop's Corporal Sharp is an unrelenting, brutal leader, wedded to the Paras, contemptuous of the public. A tight physical, eyeball-to-eyeball performance, Coop is always restrained and in control, until one wonderful moment of extreme anger when his body threshes about like an incomprehensible puppet.

Danny Hornigold's Walters is an embryo Sharp, a lager lout covering his inarticulacy with a litany of swear words. His powerful physical performance, loud and brash, contrasts with a strong internal presence. Goldy (Tim Hewitt) is the rebel, Sharp's opposite, challenging group traditions, outside it but emerging as its emotional conscience. A warm, relaxed, performance, almost too quiet initially, it builds to white hot anger. Gareth Taylor's Dennis is the ordinary, family man, eventually drawn into the group's violence. Taylor plays with a strong, open, dreamy quality.

Polo (Rachid Sabitri) is a mint-eating, pop-obsessed nerd, the youngest and endless butt of group jokes. His incompetence during the funeral triggers his nervous breakdown and forces the soldiers to start questioning their condition. A vulnerable performance of naivety and unconscious comedy, it might yet draw a stronger contrast between group clown and broken man.

Dennis: Gareth Taylor
Goldy: Tim Hewitt
Polo: Rachid Sabitri
Sharp: Ian Coop
Walters: Danny Hornigold

Director: Joe Austin

2004-08-13 00:26:12