Review: Pink Mist, Bristol Old Vic

Parts of Pink Mist are absolutely mesmerising. This simple account of three Bristol lads who sign up for the Army and each suffer horrifically during a tour of duty in Afghanistan is the antithesis to the sanitised heroism of Army recruitment ads.

It shows the grim reality of 18-year-olds having their legs blown off, their minds shattered, on an almost empty stage with just six actors, in a cascade of words from poet and playwright Owen Sheers delivered almost entirely directly to the audience in a parade of interspliced monologues.

The main character is Arthur (Phil Dunster), a cheeky lad from Severn Beach who persuades his two childhood mates to sign up with him. Dunster is a master of the mystical art of the storyteller, both a mesmeric talker and in perfect physical control, transporting his audience across the line into another place, where the smallest gesture creates an object and the slightest turn an emotion.

It is tempting to consider how Pink Mist would have worked as a one-man show, in which case it would have been a tour-de-force. Even when the other five actors merely act as support and backdrop to Dunster’s performance, the play still rivets its audience. This is undoubtedly Arthur’s story.

But when those other five actors take centre stage to tell their stories, the magic vaporises. That’s less due to any lack of acting ability on their part than to a change in the writing. Arthur’s narrative is lyrical, a sweeping river of images, memories and feelings, a torrent of richly formed language that one would expect from a poet-cum-playwright like Shears.

The other characters’ narratives are simpler, more like oral history put on the stage verbatim, a personal account delivered dull-edged to a group of passive listeners rather than an audience actively carried along on a journey. One of the maxims of fiction writing is ‘show, don’t tell’. Although Sheers does address this point in his programme note, acknowledging and even revelling in the fact that having the characters recounting past events breaks that cardinal rule, the reality on stage is that the true magic of theatre, the moment when the audience’s imagination lifts off, can only be achieved by abiding by it. Dunster’s Arthur shows – the other characters tell.

Pink Mist undoubtedly deserves much of the acclaim it has received. Although it’s far from perfect – punctuating a theatrical performance with displays of expressive dance is almost never a good idea – it highlights an important reality about the young men we send to war, that is all too easily forgotten. And Dunster’s Arthur is a character that lingers in the mind long after the audience have left the theatre.

Pink Mist continues at Bristol Old Vic until March 5. For more information and to book tickets, visit www.bristololdvic.org.uk/pinkmist.html