London, 1941. There is a ferocious German air raid taking place over London. Two strangers, plucky and determined young American nurse Ellen (Emilie Mayban) and jumpy Great War veteran Tommy (Jan Van Der Black, who also writes the piece), find themselves alone in a dingy cellar in search of shelter. They begin to talk. It becomes apparent that there is a surprising and unexpected connection between the two. But what is it, and how will each respond to unfolding events that, in different ways, set their world ablaze?
Jan Van Der Black’s slow and long-winded Dulce et Decorum Est: The Unknown Soldiers draws its theme and the first part of its title from Wilfred Owen’s war poem of the same name. Whatever the propaganda may say, there is nothing remotely sweet and right about dying for your country on a foreign battleground. Even the lucky ones, like Tommy, face a lifetime gripped by survivor’s guilt, unable to go home for fear of meeting the loved ones of those never to return. As Tommy tells us, he is “too old, too broken and too scared” to face up to his past, but drama has a way of forcing fictional characters to do just that.
The nature of the relationship between Ellen and Tommy is telegraphed early on in a clunky piece of exposition that reveals a barely credible central plot contrivance. For 50 or so of the show’s 75 minutes the audience has to wait, more or less patiently, for the characters and plot to gain sufficient momentum to catch up with what we already know. A palpable lack of dramatic tension here is made worse by director Penny Gkritzapi’s decision to pause the action periodically to show back projections of wartime film footage, accompanied by melancholy music. Presumably this is an effort to evoke the atmosphere of the Somme and the Blitz, but the effect is to stop the narrative dead in its tracks, idly awaiting a chance to resume once the movie interludes finish. There is a sense that Gkritzapi is not convinced the story itself is enough to keep the audience engaged. Even the final twist in the tail feels contrived.
What saves the piece from slow tedium is a performance of extraordinary depth and power from Van Der Black as the tearful, remorse-struck, and emotionally stunted Tommy, whose decades long psychological burden is suddenly lifted by a chance encounter with a stranger. So powerful is his stage presence and so underutilised is Ellen (despite valiant efforts by Mayban to bring life to a thinly characterised role) that it occasionally feels like Dulce et Decorum Est: The Unknown Soldiers might work more successfully as monologue than as a two-hander.
19 October 2022
Writer: Jan Van Der Black
Director: Penny Gkritzapi
Duration: 75 minutes. No interval.
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