As a native Northern-Irelander, it’s hard not find oneself drawn to a play with a title like this. Slightly wordy, and yet memorable, invoking history and memory, it ticks all the boxes to appeal to me. Despite not knowing much Frank McGuinness, I was very excited to be invited to review Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching towards the Somme.
It turned out to be even better than I expected. Opening with an old man, Kenneth Pyper, readying himself for death, we realise that he has been here before – looking death in the eye – except that time he managed to evade it. As Pyper muses over his life, he is surrounded from the shadows of the wings by a group of young soldiers, the men he fought alongside at the Somme, all of whom fell, leaving only him to remember them. As the old man begins to fade, his younger self takes the stage, reliving his wartime memories.
The characters are very human and relatable – Millen and Moore, two bickering best friends from the North Antrim coast; the swaggering Belfast shipbuilders, Anderson and McIlwaine, who fear they carry a curse for their supposed part in the sinking of the Titanic; Roulston, who used to be a preacher and is struggling with his loss of faith; young Crawford who’s hiding a secret from his fellow soldiers; and sensitive David Craig, who can almost envisage a life for himself on the other side of the war. Kenneth Pyper is an oddity – not quite an Ulsterman, and clearly from a privileged background, he revels in provoking the other men to the point of fury – and yet, we see the soldiers more clearly by looking at them through his insights. We know that he will be the only survivor, and – while he wants to die – he knows this too.
I think it’s fair to say I’ve never heard language acting as good as this before. Some of the subtle humour of the play is in the gentle rivalry from area to area across Ulster, and the soft differences in regional accents are impeccable. There are no gimmicks here – very few props; a little (very effective) staging and lighting, and this stripped back approach allows the superb writing and acting to shine through. I would go and see this play every night this week if I could. ★★★★★ @Booking Around 29th September 2016
Photo Credit: Johan Persson
