Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Sean McGinley, Donal Gallery, Ryan Donaldson, Iara McGowan, Chris McCurry, Marcus Lamb, Jonny Holden, Andy Kellegher, Paul Kennedy.

The lies and propaganda that was used to call up millions of men during World War One never seems to be anything but staggering, almost contemptible and yet those millions took the call to arms against people they had never met in a battle to preserve the status quo; as each county in the United Kingdom offered up more and more men to the front line, so too did the sense of belonging and camaraderie take hold in the trenches.

It is that sense of camaraderie, misplaced, the sense of truth having gone astray that drives Frank McGuinness’ intelligent and battle scared play Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme with great conscientiousness and thought of just how easy it is too bring disparate people together under one flag, under one guiding principle, even if it means that the fight they are ready to die for is one that is only replacing another.

The bloody battle that surrounded the Somme, the sheer waste of humanity on both sides, is but a snapshot of what took place, however Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme takes the audience deeper into the psyche of the men at arms than perhaps any audience would be comfortable with. It shows the men to be human beings, ones that abide by their faith over their fellow country man and that they are united by that faith to not question the powers that be in their common cause.

The all male cast brought home the waste of the war with great magnitude, a seismic acting earthquake which dominated the Playhouse Theatre stage and in which Donal Gallery as the young Kenneth Pyper stood in great solemnity over the proceedings as he portrayed the artistic but fully functioning anarchistic soldier. The young actor framed the piece perfectly as he showed just how mad you have to be to consider war as anything but a parlour trick created by those with something to gain.

A thought provoking and unnerving play, Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme is a play which scrutinises the ease in which to bring people under one defining banner.

Ian D. Hall