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Battle: A Modern Mystery Play

 
Rebecca Vines Review by Rebecca Vines 4 Published: 27 Aug 2022 theSpace @ Niddry St Show Dates: 22 Aug 2022-27 Aug 2022

Battle describes itself as a modern mystery play, and takes the audience on an intricately-plotted historical journey from 1066 to the present day: exploring how women just gather up their skirts and carry on as the men around them love… fight… die.

The imaginative script has shades of Mother Courage, a whiff of Christopher Fry and a hearty, dollopy nod to Euripides

Written by Saskia Wesnigk, the imaginative script has shades of Mother Courage, a whiff of Christopher Fry and a hearty, dollopy nod to Euripides. It shuttles forwards and backwards again from the French invasion of England, when William the Bastard so unceremoniously walloped Harold II with an arrow and snatched the infant country of England for himself. But they are just the first pair of toxic Williams and Harrys we are invited to explore: the Conqueror’s own sons, Shakespeare’s Prince Hal, the currently warring Cambridges and Sussexes are all encompassed in a piece which largely bypasses the more well-known antics of men and focuses instead on the women left to clean-up, cope and chorus about the chaos unfolding around them.

SwanWing Productions have created a neat little piece with a lot of heart and humanity. As the Fates snip snip snip at the strings tying these men to their little lives, the womenfolk plod on… smoking, baking, sewing, passing comment with a weary and cyclical inevitability conducted by Old Father Time himself. The four actors present with care and commitment and are so invested in their characterisations that it is impossible not to be infected by their passion for the subject material and those they are breathing life into.

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The Blurb:

First produced at the Battle Medieval Mystery Fair in June 2022, this modern mystery play with three women and a man is never more relevant than now. When all you have is your acting skills, even as a refugee, you will put up your stage and perform your show. Travelling thespians are fleeing with their wagon. They stop and tell their stories. In war, how do mothers, queens, wives, daughters and actors cope? They gather their skirts and they soldier on.