My Boy Jack

Theatre At Baddow has a good reputation for finding top class plays that have not necessarily been seen much. This was no exception, I have not seen or heard of this play until I received my invitation, but I did my due diligence and discovered that it was based on facts. It depicts the story of John (Jack) Kipling, son of Rudyard Kipling and his efforts, encouraged by his father, to join up to fight in the First World War. With significantly poor eyesight he should never have enlisted but he was eager to escape what he saw as the confines of his family. His father saw it as a grand gesture to demonstrate allegiance to King and country.

The cast were exceptional, everyone had a well-defined character, and they really brought the passions ,anger, frustrations and political situation to life. Andrew Raymond (Rudyard Kipling) was excellent, maintaining the character throughout and his frustration and loyalty to his King and Country were beautifully portrayed. His breakdown at the end was masterful.

Silas Powell (John (Jack) Kipling) was an excellent casting, he portrayed the young man extremely well and we felt his initial frustrations and need to escape. He developed his character well into the battle ground scenes where we saw him taking charge as a caring but firm leader.

His sister Elsie was well played by Charlotte Gant, although I did have some difficulty hearing her dialogue initially as her projection was a little quiet. However, she settled in, later in the play, and I was able to follow her dialogue.

Clare Woodward played Carrie Kipling, Jack’s mother, with a very refined American accent which she maintained throughout the play. The three Irish Guardsmen, Bruce Thompson, Andrew Chesney and Ben Perkins, shown in the trenches,were all excellent, with accurate and well-maintained Irish accents. They brought out the black comedy in their dialogue well and we really felt the atmosphere of the battle field. Ben Perkins’ appearance later in the play was a master class in characterisation as he portrayed the anguish of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The cast was completed by Oli Burns (Colonel Rory Pottle) and Roger Saddington (Major Charles Sparks) with some excellent ‘Officer’ behaviour.

Directors Matthew Jones and Abigail Hunt had clearly worked very hard with this cast and the result was a thought provoking and emotional performance which was a credit to them and their cast.

The standing set was good and the conversion to the trenches was very effective. I just wish it were possible to make scene changes without blackouts, but I do appreciate that, particularly in a play, this is not always possible.

My thanks, as always, for my welcome and I drove home pondering the implications of the story which has stayed with me.

 

Tessa Davies

On behalf of Victoria Carey

District 8,

NODA East

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