Black Watch wins over an army of new fans

May 9 2008 by Matt Thomas, Western Mail

WHEN the actors of Black Watch first performed their piece, it was in an abandoned drill hall in Edinburgh. The production was part of the city’s International Festival and scheduled to run for three weeks.

That was two years ago. Since then the play has travelled the world, taking in New York, Los Angeles and Sydney. Now it is coming to the Ebbw Vale leisure centre.

The in-demand show has been touring incessantly, a runaway success, but executive producer Neil Murray is keen to keep it from straying too far from its roots.

“People have asked me why we don’t have other companies touring it at the same time, filling more venues, like (the production) Stomp,” he said. “But every time I just have to say, I’m sorry, this isn’t Stomp.”

To explain this point, it’s enough to say Black Watch tells the story of eight soldiers, of the since-dissolved Fife-based regiment, during their tour of Iraq. During the hour-and-three-quarter long show they bicker, talk about home, swear and perform highly-choreographed drills and fight highly-choreographed battles.

It is based on interviews conducted with former soldiers by playwright Gregory Burke, which is about as far away from people gaily clomping around with bin lids on their feet as it is possible to go.

The play has its roots back in 2004, when Burke was asked by the nascent National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) to monitor the amalgamation of the Black Watch, able to trace its lineage back some 260 years, with the other Scottish regiments.

The NTS commissioned Burke to write his play based on his earlier research. Rehearsals of Black Watch finally began in early 2006, with the NTS’s John Tiffany directing.

“It has its roots in the Edinburgh Tattoo, which is a really weird experience,” Tiffany says. “The audience sit either side of this great esplanade and all the action takes place down the middle.

“It creates a powerful atmosphere, with the audience staring at each other, and I realised I could take this esplanade and use it.”

As a result, the show uses an unusual face-to-face set up known as a traverse, whereby the audience sit staring at the actors in their midst, trying to avoid the gazes of their opposite numbers on the other side of the stage.

“It has certain technical considerations,” says Murray. “That’s one of the reasons we are putting it on in the leisure centre, as it can actually accommodate the production.”

In fact, this seems to be the determining factor in the decision to take over the leisure centre. Even though the military-themed play appropriately began its life in a drill hall, it’s apparent that Murray and Tiffany don’t view it as a site-specific work.

“I suppose we used to be quite precious about it, insisting on military buildings” says Murray. “But now we’ve put it on in a hydroelectric research plant, village halls and even a theatre. We create a space within a space.”

“It’s a big endeavour,” adds Tiffany. “It takes four days to load into a space for the performance. We’ve been very lucky to have great presenters who find us these venues, like the leisure centre.”

Despite the stylised seating arrangements – literally splitting the audience down the middle – Murray says there is no politically divisive message in the play.

“People ask me what political orientation the play is, whether it’s left-wing or right-wing. I say it’s a no-wing play. It tells a story and everyone can draw their own conclusions from that.”

Even though he is keen to stress the play’s universal appeal. Murray, who is from Newport, feels that it could have a specific resonance with the people of Ebbw Vale. The area around Fife where the Black Watch traditionally drew its recruits from is a place where the Army has replaced heavy industry as the big employer. “I think that’s a situation that’s particularly relevant in South Wales.”

Staying relevant is one of the concerns that the production team are very aware of.

“The issues being dealt with in this play are still very real,” says Tiffany.

Murray adds, “British troops are still being killed in Iraq: they’re dying every day in Afghanistan.

“If there ever came a point where there were no more soldiers out there, we might start to think it was a historical play and stop doing it.”

After its Welsh premiere the play will tour Britain, before returning to America, where it has enjoyed positive reviews. But this time they’re not going to the friendly theatres of New York.

“We’re going to Norfolk, Virginia. It’s more of the US military heartland,” says Murray, never afraid of confrontation. “It’s going to be interesting to see what happens.”

* Black Watch runs from Thursday to Saturday, May 17 in Ebbw Vale Leisure Centre. For further details visit www.theatrbrycheiniog.co.uk  or call 01874 611622.