Not about Heroes
Pleasance Dome
15 August 2017
4 Stars
Stephen MacDonald's beautifully structured play is given a fine production by Flying Bridge Theatre at this Fringe. World War One poets Sigfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen meet at Craiglockhart Hospital in 1917, Sassoon already an established poet, Owen in awe of him. Through letters home, the poetry itself and shared hatred of the war, the two become friends.
This is a finely judged and tuned production. As Sassoon, Daniel Llewellyn Williams captures perfectly his anger at the war and his growing admiration of Owen's writing. Iestyn Arwel is equally impressive as shy, nervous Owen, determined to return to the Front and not betray his men. That Owen was killed a week before the Armistice adds deep poignancy and is dealt with beautifully.
In the noise and demands of the Fringe, this is a still, quiet haven of poetry and the pity of war, well worth catching.
Read more of our reviews and coverage from the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe
Paul is a playwright, director, actor, academic, (he has a PhD from the University of East Anglia), teacher and theatre reviewer! His plays include Living with Luke, (UK tour 2016), Play Something, (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Drayton Arms Theatre, London 2018), , (2019), and now The Miner’s Crow, which won the inaugural Artist’s Pick of the Fringe Award at the first ever Colchester Fringe Festival 2021. In lockdown 2020 he created the audio series Isolation Alan, available on Youtube, and performed online in the Voice Box Festival. He is the founder member of Stage Write, a Colchester based theatre company, and his acting roles include Rupert in How We Love by Annette Brook, first performed at the Vaults Festival 2020 and revived at the Arcola and at Theatre Peckham in 2021. Follow: @stagewrite_
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