Review: Toy Soldier, Union Theatre

‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ by Tears for Fears and ‘Blue Savannah’ by Erasure are just two of the tracks playing as the audience take their seats for Toy Soldier. Both are synonymous with the 1980s. The former reflects a hunger for power and control, with a sense of omnipresent destruction, the latter represents the physical ache of someone a long way from their lover. Two excellent choices for a play that examines the effects of the Falklands War. They accompany a powerful screening of images (Joseph Dewey) from the time itself, notably Margaret Thatcher juxtaposed with anti-war protests.

The plot follows Jane (Faye Bennett), who has returned to the Falkland Islands in 2002 to pack up the family home after her mother’s death. The islands are in the throes of celebrating the Queen’s Golden Jubilee (cue more video footage by way of illustration). Jane finds a set of headphones attached to a portable cassette player which, when she listens, transports her back twenty years to the war, when she lived in the middle of the war zone with her younger brother Billy (Matthew Edgar) and their unseen mother. From this point, the action shifts back to that time.

The intent of the script is obvious but compelling. No one in the audience can fail to be horrified by the violence endured by the young men of both nationalities, sent out to die for their countries by desk-bound, suit-wearing politicians. The script and characters neatly illustrate the delusion and contradiction of war, where neighbours become enemies and invisible lines are drawn. Billy is particularly patriotic and overly influenced by his fascist friend Mark (Paul Gorman) and, flushed with the naivety of youth, paints plastic toy soldiers with red nail varnish to represent (and simulate) their deaths. Jane reminds him that, as a young child, his life was saved by an Argentinian surgeon when he was airlifted to Buenos Aires for an emergency operation. He is not to be persuaded.

Jane comes across a badly wounded Argentinian soldier, Alejo (Nico Conde), on the farm and tries to help him. Alejo remains on stage for the rest of the piece and is the ever-present embodiment of the reality of battle: a young man who just misses his mum and wants to go home, another helpless “toy” in this conflict.

So much of this production is of an exemplary standard. Hannah Calarco’s sandbagged battlefield set, which doubles as a farm as needed, works seamlessly alongside Vittorio Verta’s lighting design and Dewey’s visuals. It is clear that a lot of care has gone into each component.

However, the technical elements are so strong that the acting suffers by comparison. Conde gives the most nuanced performance and even with the least to say, his work is effective. Edgar and Gorman, however, desperately need some light and shade, and Bennett a little more energy. The moment when Billy carries out a truly horrifying act appears to almost slip by unnoticed by Jane and may need reframing for more effective dramatic purpose.

That said, this is a very powerful piece that clearly affected the audience. Its message about the human cost of war, borne by ordinary people on both sides while those in power watch from afar, feels as urgent now as it did in 1982. With a little more contrast in the performances to match the quality of the design, Toy Soldier has the potential to be truly devastating.

Written by: Helen Goodman & Joseph Dewey

Director: Helen Goodman

Producer: Stephen Leslie

Video Director: Joseph Dewey

Lighting Designer: Vittorio Verta

Sound Designer: Joseph Dewey

Set Designer: Hannah Calarco

Presented by: Theatre On The River in association with Stephen Leslie Productions

Toy Soldier plays at the Union Theatre until Sunday 18 October.