Manchester's versatile and welcoming 53Two are commemorating the centenary of the end of WW1 in a less conventional way. They are presenting the northern premiere of a work which looks at the less glamorous and less noble side of war and in this stark and realistic production, 4 men, stuck in a make-shift prison barn on the fringes of the Front, learn much and gain little.
In Max Saunders-Singer's 'The Glasshouse' we are presented with a very probable happenstance which sees two misfit officers tasked with guarding prisoners before their trials. That seems fine until we realise that the 'prison' is a dank hell-hole of a barn somewhere behind the battle-lines in Flanders, the two 'guards' have probably been given this duty as a kind of 'last chance saloon' for both of them too - not a job that the average 'Tommy' would sign-up for. But more startling is the fact that the prisoners they house here are not Germans or 'enemies' but our own men. One, a young lad barely old enough to have taken the King's shilling in the first place is held here as he has gone 'bomb happy' and deserted. He has lost the power of speech, and goes into convulsions each time he hears a loud noise. The other, a Conscientious Objector who has been brought over from England forcibly and he is still refusing to don a uniform and fight. [remember this was a man's right at that time - he may well have been given the 'white feather' treatment from all, but there was no conscription, and so, his choice]
The stage set for this play is absolutely the best I have ever seen here, utilising the side wall and building an extremely realistic barn around it. Combine this with costume and props which have had an attention to detail and authenticity rarely seen; superb sound and lighting, and this production is immediately elevated to a whole other level; and that was before anyone acts.
The acting was the icing and the cherry on the cake. The four were spellbindingly good. Every flicker of the eye, every slight gesture, it all tells a story. Sam Adamson was Moon, the young shell-shocked run-away whose fate is sealed the moment he is captured; and the 'Conchie' Pip, was played with a certain stoicism by writer Max Saunders-Singer. Blythe, the more malevolent insidious guard was played by Corin Silva, whilst 53Two's own Simon Naylor took the role of Harper, the hard-nut with a soft centre. The acting from all four was impeccable. There was a simple honesty about them, and I was truly moved.
It would be wrong of me to explain the plot. Suffice to say that these men over the course of the play's journey become almost 'friends' as they have a lot to learn from each other; and there is tenderness in these desperate conditions which forces men to do things which are against their own beliefs and will. It is a side of war rarely if ever truly exposed and a side of our part in the war which we really should not be proud of nor be glorifying. Director Sonnie Beckett does no such thing and makes this as real as it is possible to get. Her directing is tight and electric. I had a permanent lump in my throat and fought back tears several times, and was frozen to my seat for several seconds at the end of the first act.
The first act is the stronger half and I did feel that the second act added little in terms of plot development. We already knew or could second guess the fates of both Pip and Harper, and the ending did feel a little 'theatrical' and 'contrived' despite it being a beautiful visual metaphor. Having an interval also for me at least, broke the mood and atmosphere created and it was then more difficult for me to go back into the space and continue.
The play asks many questions, mostly about who we are and what we are capable of. Who is mad, what is madness, and war turns all men mad. But also about warfare and human rights. It's all too easy and convenient to say, 'oh well, that was in 1916 and they didn't know any better then!' - it still doesn't make it any less tragic or excusable.
A veritable emotional roller-coaster which, through the realism of set, sound, directing and performance brings about an almost "I was there" surrealism to the whole which left me numb and inwardly shaking. Words like 'powerful' and 'highly charged' somehow don't do it justice.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 1/11/18
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