Our Boys

by Jonathan Lewis

This play, set in 1984, concerns five young soldiers, among them veterans of the troubles in Northern Ireland and the Hyde Park bombing, who are killing nothing but time in a quiet ward of the Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital, with television, games, pornography, bragging one-upmanship and cynical humour as their only means of mental escape. Tensions arise when a young officer is billeted with them, and a bitter, savage war of words, only just disguised as humour, is waged against him. After an hilarious birthday party, into which several cans of beer have been smuggled, the six find themselves facing charges of misconduct - and then the fighting really starts. Fired by the author's anger at the Army's neglect of its wounded heroes, the play is a perceptive and surprisingly tender work.

Genres: Plays

120 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1995

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely perfect!

[Robert Strandquist · Rating 3 out of 5]

This brief war hospital psycho drama demands top notch acting to prevent it from farce. It also demands familiarity with PTSD from the audience. If these demands are met, the play succeeds in its purpose of presenting the visceral and tender bravery of our wounded soldier 'boys.' Lewis clearly develops each of the six characters as individuals and their mercuric interrelationships. Their general lack of respect for authority is replaced by a school-boy's timid fear as they face their maladies and their dubious futures. By the end, much has been resolved but we're left with little to cling to that redeems their camaraderie as wounded warriors. Having said that, one of them is in hospital for a circumcision, another for a bowel problem neither of which connects them to military service. With all this damning, I did find the Beer Hunter scene to be a refreshing bit of theater. Also their abilities to 'take the Mick' would be great fun for any actor. All in all, perhaps I'm not British enough to find the intended pity for these wounded warriors.from the Falkland skirmish in the mid-1980's.