FRIEND OR FOE

FRIEND OR FOE

Made In Colchester at the Mercury Theatre Colchester

03.09.2014

for The Public Reviews

Seventy-five years to the day since Britain went to war with Germany. When Chamberlain spoke and the first sirens wailed, Operation Pied Piper was already underway, relocating thousands of evacuee children to the relative safety of the countryside.

Michael Morpurgo's novel, of 1977, tells of two such London lads, and their idyllic time in Devon – an idyll which is shattered by the enemy, testing their friendship and their moral fibre.

This is not the first time Davey and Tucky have taken to the stage – there is a musical version out there, and this adaptation, by Daniel Buckroyd, toured a few years ago in a shorter, simpler incarnation.

It captures wonderfully the sense of a Boy's Own adventure, and the anguish, holding the audience rapt as the story unfolds.

Matthew Cullum's production uses a simple set, with two inclines, suggesting a bombed-out house, transformed into the moors, the farmhouse kitchen or Paddington station. Lighting alone creates a sunny breakfast, or looming shadows. The soundscape is evocative, too: the ticking clock, the sheepdog and his flock.

The style is lean, inventive and very physical. The play begins with David blowing the dust off his scale-model Dornier before all five actors recreate the dogfight and the ditching. Journeys are key: the Tube, the steam train, the cart, the army truck. Suitcases, symbols of transience, are a constant presence.

The two evacuees are strongly drawn – the thoughtful, quieter David [Jake Davies], his young life blighted by his father's death, and the cheeky, outgoing Tucky [Séan Aydon]. They both convince totally as the 11-year-olds caught up in a war they struggle to understand, and as their slightly older selves looking back on those distant days in Devon. Their recollections form a narrative framework, as they bicker about the best way to tell it as it really was.

Janet Greaves, a survivor from the 2011 tour, plays the boys' formidable chain-smoking Headmistress as well as David's mother and the lovely, motherly farmer's wife, who welcomes her young visitors as the family she never had. More reluctant is Nicholas Tizzard's sympathetically drawn Reynolds, the farmer – a superb characterization, with the closing scene especially moving. Tizzard also plays Dieter, the good German [the Foe of the title], who is the lads' own Magwitch, surviving on the marshes thanks to their generosity.

Chris Porter, who also toured in 2011, plays an impressive roster of smaller roles, including the wounded airman and a wonderful bus driver.

This is a magical piece of theatre – the stylistic river scene is superbly realised with sound, light and kitchen furniture – which combines a rattling good yarn with reflections on friendship, patriotism and the waste of war. It speaks directly to us all – from the young children in the front row to the real-life evacuee in our midst, who has vivid memories of her own journey to Devon, seventy-five years ago …

production photograph: Robert Day

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews

FRIEND OR FOE

FRIEND OR FOE

Mercury Theatre, Colchester

16.11.2011

for The Public Reviews

They'll be in their eighties, now, those thousands of evacuees who were shipped out of the cities to the “middle of nowhere” to escape the Blitz. But their stories still have resonance with children today, who can empathise with the homesickness and the unlooked-for freedom.

The latest tale to be adapted for the stage is Michael Morpurgo's 1977 Friend or Foe, currently touring in a beautiful small-scale production from the enterprising Scamp Theatre.

The narrative is shared between two friends who end up on a Devon Farm. Dapper, respectable David, and the wilder, less inhibited Tucky, interrupt each other, arguing over how best to tell it as it was. And so they draw us into the story – the train journey, the “cattle market”, the foal on the farm, the village school. Until their West Country idyll is shattered by an incident which tests their friendship and their sense of duty.

The boys are persuasively characterized by Paul Sandys and Mathew Hamper – mannerisms, inflections, body language all instantly recognizable without being too modern. The story proper starts with David packing his cigarette cards and his books for the journey into the unknown. And the play ends, movingly, as it began, with his model Dornier – a powerful image for a play which manages to combine realism with impressionism, and in little over an hour and a quarter to tackle some important moral dilemmas.

All the other characters in their story are played by just three actors. Janet Greaves is brilliant as the chain-smoking headmistress, and also plays the apple-cheeked farmer's wife, an ideal surrogate Mum for the lads. I loved Michael Palmer's beautifully conceived Mr Reynolds – surly at first, not at home with words, but won over by his helpful, appreciative house guests. He was also a German pilot, the Foe of the title, who, like his counterpart in War Horse, is a subtly rounded character, sympathetic at times, sinister at others. Chris Porter was the other airman, as well as an Army Officer and several other smaller roles.

Keith Baker's set suggests a bomb site, but as the boys take us on their journey, it effortlessly becomes, in their imagination and ours, Paddington station, the farmhouse kitchen, the moor and, memorably, the river bed. Daniel Buckroyd's assured direction manages changes of mood and pace with ease, keeping audience members of all ages engaged and involved. And his faithful adaptation, cleverly allowing for the demanding doubling in the adult roles, wisely retains elements of story-telling while adding some theatrical magic to Morpurgo's thought-provoking tale.

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews