Glory Dazed is a powerful new play penned by up and coming writer Cat Jones and presented by Second Shot Productions, a production company that works with and employs ex-offenders and serving prisoners. Part of the Old Vic New Voices Fringe Festival season, it was created using the real thoughts and experiences of ex-servicemen currently serving prison sentences, and addresses the high number of soldiers who are simply unable to readjust to civilian life. The ring of authenticity drawn from this approach resounds from every inch of the play's structure and delivery.
This is quite simply an astonishing production. Set in its entirety in a claustrophobic bar after hours, the tight writing and flawless acting combine to create a suffocating atmosphere of trapped, pent-up aggression and hopeless isolation, with moments of tension so palpable the mental distance between the audience and stage seems to disappear completely. We are acutely involved in the action, and yet we are unable to intervene.
The play follows ex-soldier Ray as he arrives at a pub owned by his friend after closing time, and proceeds to try to convince his ex-wife Carla to take him back. There is blood on his shirt and it is clear from the start that he is running from something, though what this is only gradually becomes evident as the play progresses.
Samuel Edward-Cook is stunning as Ray, his every moment on stage brimming with a tragic emotional cocktail of volatility, violence, and vulnerability. Chloe Massey, meanwhile, lends Carla a feisty but increasingly weary believability, providing one of the more obviously relatable characters with a human complexity that raises her far above simple helpless victimhood.
With the courage to face up to a problem that allows no easy solutions, but nevertheless demands prolonged and careful examination, this is essential theatre.
