‘It was my Duty, or it felt that way’.
Image Credit: Mustafa Sayfi
We begin in darkness. Macsen Llewelyn is Private Neads, and his evocative voice fills the small space of the Corpus Playroom. We are immediately transported to the carnage of battle, the sensory experience of a falling shell. Operation Market Garden relays the events of a World War 2 offensive of the same name as recorded in the real diary of Neads, a Welsh Paratrooper. In documenting the experience of his small unit, this is a powerful and skilful piece of verbatim theatre.
The personal element of Operation Market Garden is deeply felt. Writer Izzy Lane delivers a standout performance as her own great-grandmother, Mair Neads, privileging the perspective of all those effected during and after conflict, alongside the foot soldiers. This project is therefore simultaneously a valuable historical document on the texture of fighting, and surviving World War 2, and a moving familial tribute that captured audience attention and did not release it.
Image Credit: Mustafa Sayfi
Operation Market Garden boasts a seamless transition between the reading scenes, and the action as depicted masterfully by the ensemble. The production does a very good job of quickly delineating personalities; Commanding the small space for all of its 60 minute runtime, the cohesion of the ensemble in depicting military operations with a demanding physicality, created a real immediacy to the reported events. The coordination of the moveable set pieces borrowed a certain spatial prowess; the production was seamless, and the claustrophobia of the Corpus Playroom works to its advantage.
Llewelyn as Neads carries an energy and quiet dignity both in the immediacy of action and the more existential requirements of his reflective role. The production skilfully merges voiceovers with dialogue in an effective temporal blur. Credit again must go to Izzy Lane’s versatility, both in her rewarding tribute to her own grandmother, and in taking on a second role last minute, that of Private Walsh, with terse, energetic vitality. Harry Davies‘ Private Edwards delivers a moving interjection on themes of memory and loss.
Image Credit: Mustafa Sayfi
Operation Market Garden is deeply nostalgic in its atmospheric sepia tones and discordant piano. This period accuracy lends to the powers of document and account exhibited, swapping out the barracks for the living room at a moments notice. Indeed, credit must go to the lighting direction in fostering a visceral sense of presence and absence as darkness suddenly takes over the stage. The choice to have deceased characters stay on stage fosters an acknowledgement of the inheritances of surviving conflict and living with survivor’s guilt. Operation Market Garden plays hard and fast with chronology and mortality in a rewarding, moving fashion.
Image Credit: Mustafa Sayfi
‘This is a story of resilience and remembrance, told from the ground up’
Operation Market Garden is showing at the Corpus playroom from Tues 11th to Sat 15th November at 9:30, catch its final night and grab your tickets here!
Featured Image Credit: Mustafa Sayfi
