Eighty years after the outbreak of World War II can anything more be done to remember those who are now dead? Unicorns, Almost tells the story of Keith Douglas, an almost unknown poet who fought on the Western desert as a tank commander and was killed three days after the D-Day landings aged just 24.
It is critical that Douglas’s life is brought to the stage through the writing of another poet, Owen Sheers (Pink Mist). From dreaming of riding with the cavalry and playing tin soldiers as a boy to escaping the boredom of working in a safe Army HQ job in Alexandria by escaping to the front in a stolen jeep, Douglas’s adventures are recounted with almost boyish enthusiasm. But within the story of derring do, we begin to hear an authentic lyrical voice that conjures up the essence of war in the same way that Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon did twenty years before.
The Story of Books production brings Douglas’s story to life at last. The excellent Dan Krikler possesses a fluidity of movement and tone as he glides around the sparse set, jumping on sandbags, sitting behind his typewriter or conveying his shock at being hurled to the ground when blown up by a trip wire. Almost balletic at times, Krikler beckons us to listen, often imploring the audience in the round to lean forwards and hear what he needs to say. Douglas’s story is not unusual for soldiers. He enlisted, he saw action and he grew to hate what war did to humanity, just as countless fighting men have done throughout the ages. What makes his story different is the way that language is used; almost like a weapon. Douglas shows us that ‘good poetry’ is a struggle, where every word has to justify itself in a line, and it takes Sheers’ own poetic lyricism to learn that this is what makes him so attractive.
Director John Retallack skilfully taps into the impish nature of Douglas while also revealing the black beast on his back, always gnawing away at the artist’s expression. An evocative soundscape by Jon Nicholls and subtly effective lighting design by Ben Pickersgill allow Douglas’s lines of poetry to be read as counterpoint to the action. As we reach the finale Douglas recites that, ‘There is an excitement in seeing our ghosts wandering’. But even after death there is a sting. Never published in his lifetime, what became his collected works were finally made available in 1951. Douglas was killed by a mortar bomb, but without any apparent marks on his body and appearing untouched. So too were the volumes of his works found by his mother in a bookshop 10 years later.
Intensely hauntingly told, Unicorns, Almost packs a punch as heavy as a kitbag and we learn that there is more to be said about war after all. In Douglas’s words, Remember me when I am dead, And simplify me when I’m dead. ★★★★★ Bryan Mason 4th September 2019
