Another Harrogate Theatre Drama Season draws to a close with this piece by Michael Morpurgo, best known for writing War Horse, which I have enjoyed both on stage and as a film. This one-man play is also set at the beginning of the last century and covers action in England and on the First World War battlefields of France and Belgium. His inspiration for both of these works comes from the time when he moved his young family to a village in Devon and spoke with a regular in his local pub, named, Wilf Ellis – the chap not the pub! He had served in the Great War and regaled the author with tales of his experiences. Although this is a one-man performance it is much more than a recitation of passages from the book, it is a superb adaptation by Simon Reade, who is also the director, and brings the whole play alive. In my synopsis I will not be revealing the ending as it differs from the novel so I don’t want to spoil it for you. For once, the reinterpreting of the piece is not done because the adapter thinks he knows better than the writer what is fit for present day audience consumption, but, as Messrs Morpurgo and Reade collaborated on the work it has all been with the author’s blessing.
The actor who portrays Tommo Peaceful, the subject of the work, is the magnificent Benjamin Cain, who is a recent BA (Hons) graduate from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, whose alumni include Olivia Coleman CBE, Samantha Bond, Mark Strong, not forgetting the recently deceased Stephanie Cole OBE and Gene Wilder – yes, that Gene Wilder – among many other famous names. Being a chap seemingly in his 20s, he manages to carry the role of a seventeen-year-old who has experienced more than his fair share of horrors, with aplomb, throwing in his impressions of the people he met along the way very effectively, as someone would at the stages of his life when he encountered them.
The play opens before we take our seats, as, when we do, the actor is already there asleep on a camp bed. This is the only prop used apart from a pocket watch and a First World War army uniform. The set comprises a large screen onto which is projected a bucolic scene of fields and trees. Behind our hero the countryside is depicted in daylight, with dusk beginning to set in, the only sound being that of the amplified pocket watch. As the house lights dim and we realise that the play has begun, Tommo Peaceful awakes and checks the time. He communicates with us by talking aloud to himself but breaking through the fourth wall in the process, saying that he doesn’t want to waste this night of all nights by sleeping through it. The scene on the back projection turns dark and he begins to relate his life story.
He was born and raised on a country estate where his father was employed by the Lord of the Manor as a forester. He had two older brothers, Charlie, the next up, to whom he was close and who became his protector, and ‘Big’ Joe, the oldest, who, in the vernacular of the time, was somewhat simple minded – had he lived in the Manor House, rather than the forester’s cottage, he would have been called eccentric.
On starting primary school he fell in love with Molly, a slightly older girl from the village, whom the teacher had asked to tie Tommo’s bootlaces which had become undone and he didn’t know how to do them up as he only wore boots on Sunday for church. This gave Mr Cain an opportunity to impersonate a five-year-old boy imitating a woman teacher; both his voice and body language were perfect. As time went by the two brothers and Molly would play out together but it soon became clear that Charlie had also taken a shine to the girl and she to him, which caused Tommo to become jealous. There was an amusing episode when the three went to the local lake to indulge in skinny-dipping which finally manifested this relationship – no, not in that way, they were still only kids.
The most traumatic occurrence was the death of the father, who was killed in an accident involving a falling tree. He was crushed whilst rescuing Tommo who had placed himself in the area where the tree was due to fall. Tommo thenceforth blamed himself for killing his own father.
Time moved on and Tommo started ‘big school’ where Charlie was already enrolled and was called upon to rescue his young brother from the school bullies who taunted him over his ‘loony’ brother, Joe.
On leaving school Charlie took over his father’s role, Tommo worked on the estate and Molly got a job in the Manor as a maid. It transpired that she had become pregnant by Charlie and was thrown out by both the Lord and her parents, so was taken in by Mrs Peaceful.
When he was fourteen there was a visit to the village by the local army recruitment officer to ‘persuade’ the men to join up and help their countrymen fight the Hun in France and Belgium. Although the minimum age to serve was nineteen, and both brothers were below that criterion, they decided to enlist after being goaded by an old woman who branded them as cowards, another great mimic job. Charlie took the lead at the recruitment office and told the sergeant that they were nineteen-year-old twins. They were given the King’s Shilling and sent to barracks to be turned into fighting men.
It was this taste of army life which showed what was in store. The sergeant major ‘Horrible’ Hanley, made their lives a misery and it came as a relief when they were sent to Belgium to join the fighting. They served at ‘Wipers’ (Ypres) in terrible conditions, but found solace in a local bar on the odd quiet evening when they could get a little time off; this usually ended in them getting drunk, especially when Sgt Hanley was sent to the same location and put in charge of their group.
The action then moves to the Somme where the brothers are subjected to even worse living conditions and surrounded by death and mud. The battle rages, but there is a touching moment when Tommo is confronted by a German soldier, who, as they are alone, points his gun down and sends him on his way.
In the final action Tommo and Charlie are sent ‘over the top’ to capture a German soldier from their trenches to interrogate him to find out the progress of the German troops. This is where I draw a veil over proceedings so as not to be a spoiler.
As you have probably gathered, I thought this production was brilliantly presented in every element. It was funny, serious and touching whilst not, as I feared it might be, over sentimental. The aforementioned camp bed was imaginatively utilised as a barricade and the wire fence on the front, with the projected images providing an atmosphere of pending doom, as did the lighting once the war scenes began. Design was by TPG, Lighting Design, Adam Foley and Sound Design, Jason Barnes.
Although I didn’t need to employ my hanky, after the applause had died down at the end, the audience left the theatre in a sombre silence indicating the effect it had had on us. Cerebral rather than slushy.
Sadly the run at Harrogate Theatre ends tonight, 26th September, please go to https://www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk/events/private-peaceful-by-michael-morpurgo/ for more information and booking.
Don’t panic! It is on tour in various parts of the country until 3rd February, 2027. Click on this link for details https://theproductiongarden.co.uk/private-paceful
To see what else is coming to Harrogate Theatre it is https://www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/
Photographs by Craig Fuller
