WORLD WAR II DRAMA’S A TALE FOR THE AGES
COCKPIT ROYAL LYCEUM, EDINBURGH
IT’S 1948. As Europe calcifies into eastern and western blocs, thousands of refugees, POWs and other displaced persons sit in makeshift centres, waiting to go home.
The premise of Bridget Bolland’s play – which has barely been performed in the intervening years – is that a German theatre has been turned into one of these international holding pens.
Two British officers struggle to keep control of the Poles, Russians, Lithuanians, Latvians, French and Dutch shoehorned into every corner of the stalls, the circle, the boxes and the bars.
The German stage manager – terrified of the lot of them – hides in the lighting rig and pops up from the hatch on the centre of the stage. This is an immersive performance, with the Lyceum dotted with shabby suitcases, threadbare blankets and notices banning fighting in several languages. Some of the audience sit on the stage, with members of the cast in their midst. Wils Wilson’s direction hits one wrong note – Dylan Read’s comic turn as the mole-like caretaker is incongruous and overdone. And there are a couple of moments in the second half where the script droops into debating society point scoring. But, as a whole, it is moving, thought-provoking and all too timely in post-Brexit Britain. ● Cockpit is on at the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, until October 28. ANNA BURNSIDE