It’s 1916 in Great Britain when this story opens as 17-year-old Private Tommo Peaceful (played by Shane O’Regan) attempts to stay up all night to try to remember everything. There is a sense of urgency throughout the 80-minute monologue as Tommo flashes from present to past as his watch ticks ahead to whatever awaits him in the coming dawn.
Private Peaceful, based on a children’s novel by Michael Morpurgo, is a one-man play that takes us through Tommo’s short life. Tommo, as narrator of his own life’s story, shares two vastly different tales of his young life, beginning with his first day of school.
As a jubilant young boy growing up in rural Britain, Tommo relives his childhood of fun, and innocence and adulation as he recalls childhood memories of his big brother and idol Charlie, school mate Molly, and his challenged brother “Big Joe”.
When Charlie and Tommo enlist in WWI the tone of the monologue changes, as Tommo’s loss of innocence though the experience of trenches, and blood shed, and death transforms him. From the battle lines of France, Tommo conjures up the horrors of war, the terrible conditions, the death of fellow soldiers, and the relationship with the hellish Sergeant Hanley who hates his brother Charlie.
This is a moving story about the loving relationship of Tommo and his brother Charlie, so intimately linked that they would go to war together. This is also a poignant story about the costs of war, and who ultimately pays the price.
Adaptor and Director Simon Reade in describing his direction of this children’s novel intended “to embrace the kind of play-acting that you can imagine a child enjoying in their own bedroom: tipping their bed over and saying ‘this is a trench’ or being in a field one moment and then in the middle if a market square the next, simply by articulating it. For adults watching it, it reawakens our childlike imagination.”
With this minimalist approach, the story telling relies on the audio and visual cues to frame the story along with the talents of an energetic Shane O’Regan in a truly believable portrayal of a 17-year-old boy with both a clear-eyed youthfulness as well as an opposingly clear eyed view on the horror and inhumanity of war.
Because of his O’Regan’s immense talent, Tommo morphs (throughout his dialogue) into Charlie, Molly, Big Joe as well as 20 others. O’Regan brilliantly weaves the character between a wide-eyed young boy, a toothless old woman, an enemy soldier, and the cruel Sergeant Hanley.
In such an intimate theater as Greenhouse Theatre Center, the audience is able to embrace the minimalism and find the underlying emotions. In the end, the story is a mix of both joy and tragedy that audiences should enjoy. Judging from the ovation, my fellow audience members would agree.
As a final nod to Mr. O’Regan’s talent, I was amazed that he didn’t break character when a very rude audience member’s cellphone started playing marching band music. PLEASE turn off your cell phone when entering a theatre!
Private Peaceful is being performed at The Greenhouse Theater Center through November 11th. More more information on this event visit www.greenhousetheater.org.
