A new piece of writing by Meghan Crosby explores the thoughts and feeling of soldiers when they are far from home and far from love.
Jim (Sammy Hayman) and Cole (Andrew Scade) take us through the pain and vulnerability of being a young soldier on the frontline. Scade is wonderfully believable as the young and unstable American soldier he is portraying. Running parallel to this we see the discussion between an Afghan mother and her daughter as they talk about finding and losing love. The young girl (Raghad Chaar) is doe-eyed at the thought of finding ‘the one’, whilst her mother (Nickoletta Thoma) is grounded by past betrayal. Chaar and Thoma have a lovely chemistry and brought real passion to the rolls.
The eventual collision of the two is well handled and the way in which this young company execute this scene is interesting and shows maturity in directorial choices.
This play has some fantastic points, the acting and writing has finesse and the story was interesting throughout with both narratives crossing paths seamlessly. However, what stops this good piece of writing from being a great piece of theatre is its pace; the scene changes were too predictable and repetitive which meant a loss in rhythm. The movement at times felt a little awkward and unfortunately didn’t have the quality so clearly found in the excellent acting and writing.
