(Dominic Cavendish’s article appeared in the Telegraph, 7/7.)
Ten years ago, our theatre was teeming with responses to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Times changed, new crises arose, the plays died off. But what about those who served, and the lives they – some of them – came back to?
The Welsh novelist and poet Owen Sheers has been fighting an almost one-man campaign to keep the “war on terror” and its legacy in our sights. In 2012, he gave us The Two Worlds of Charlie F, a heart-rending evocation of the road to recovery for injured personnel – performed by a troupe of warriors turned actors. Now for too brief a run, the Old Vic is staging an even more poignant piece of writing.
Initially written for Radio 4, Pink Mist is a verse drama that gives lyrical voice to the (fictionalised) experiences of three Bristol-raised soldiers caught up in the Afghan conflict, and the women – girlfriends, mothers – who have to pick up the pieces.