310 Blog Post: King and Country

310 Blog Post: King and Country

The play we saw at Southwark playhouse, King and Country, had an important theme that was so focused and interesting to watch. The theme that was at the forefront of the play was the idea of “shell shock”, PTSD within soldiers, specifically soldiers in World War I. It was refreshing to see the focus of not only PTSD within military life, but an overall focus on mental health in a broader sense. The play really concentrated on the effects that PTSD had on the lives of soldiers and their mental stability during the war, but it also tried to focus on the reactions and perceptions people had with mental health. The play was able to portray the consequences forced upon and that hinder people struggling through mental health issues. I am not sure if the actual portrayal of a soldier affected by PTSD was properly expressed, but the bigger picture of what were the problems of dealing with PTSD during World War I was excellently displayed. There were many scenes that encapsulated emotional scenarios, but the one I felt that really expressed the perceptions on mental health within society, but especially military culture, was the scene during the trial of Private Hamp’s (Adam Lawrence) desertion, where the President of the Court (Peter Ellis) clearly seems to have no interest in whether this “coward” lives or dies despite any “mental health issues”. The President of the Court plainly states to Lieutenant Hargreaves (Lloyd Everitt) that he will be allowed to gather further evidence, but if it would be possible to do it before lunch. This scene was extremely unsettling because everyone within the scene seemed to be bothered or uncomfortable by the comment, but it was just accepted as a normal reaction to something that they had considered to not be a real matter. The idea that only physical wounds matter when determining illness was a huge concept within the play as well. The medical officer (Andrew Cullum) who is put on the witness stand made an exceptional example of how even health care professionals felt that no one had time to heal wounds that were not visible, even though the wounds caused by “shell shock” were just as damaging as those of the physical nature.

The second half of the play was interesting to watch due to the fact that, throughout the first half of the play there seemed to be this carelessness about what happened to Private Hemp and his trial because the idea that he would be let off due to his mental health never made sense. In the second half of the play the care and heartache for Hemp’s life seemed to matter more to the rest of the cast and it was interesting to see their reactions and how they all took his sentencing extremely hard, even Lieutenant Webb (Henry Proffit), who had predicted Hemp’s end. One thing that I did find, I would not say funny, but predictably soul writhing, was the fact that the only mention of woman was to show her unfaithfulness. I understand that the play was an accurate period piece and as it is placed within army confines in World War I there would only be men and that view on women during this time was very dismissive and degrading, so they had to portray this accurately, but it was still upsetting as someone who is female and from the 21^st century. It was disappointing that one of the storylines that they wanted to push in order to explain Private Hemp’s need to desert was the fact that he was disturbed due to finding out that his wife back home had moved in with another man. It was disappointing because it was probably an accurately portrayed scenario in which the actual military would commonly use this in a way to minimize the affect that war had on soldier’s mental stability, but also because this was a view that represented women during those times as well.  

Side note the play was extremely emotional and Paul Tomlinson, the play director, did an amazing job in his portrayal of the hardships felt through soldiers in World War I, but the play and difficulties seen within it still resonate to this day regarding mental health. The play itself was in cooperation with the First World War Centenary Partnership, by the Imperial War Museums, attempting to share and express the lives and stories of the people who were part of the war and how these times of war affected their lives.