Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Monday 5th March 2018.
Between the Crosses is based on recordings made by Edgar Huggins, the last surviving member of the Durham Light Infantry, telling of his experiences at Ypres and the Somme in WWI. Like so many survivors of all wars, he spoke little or nothing to his family about that time in his life.
Will Huggins recalls, when he was a small boy, his uncle showing him his wounds and mentioning the trenches. After Edgar's death, he researched the history of his late uncle's regiment and its involvement in the Great War, and also found a recording made by his uncle. This play draws on that recording, and even includes a few brief passages from it.
Will Huggins presents a high-energy, fast-paced, good-humoured performance that shows great respect and affection for his uncle Edgar, as well as a vast knowledge of that campaigns in which he was involved. It is interesting that Edgar only joined the Territorial Army, the Terriers, prior to the conflict, in order to work with the horses.
Huggins begins his narrative with the early life of his uncle, his love of horses, and describes how he ended up in the Durham Light Infantry, placing it alongside the bigger events. His description of how a small problem in the Austro-Hungarian Empire suddenly spread to become a world war is cleverly constructed and brings forth considerable laughter.
His detailed and rapid-fire account of the entire time that his uncle's regiment spent at the front, and of all of the others involved in the action, almost makes one's head spin. You have to see this sensational scene to believe it, and it is only a brief part of the production.
This is a wonderful, warm tribute to one of the many who went to war in 1914, and one of the few who returned, and Will Huggins is sensational, both as the writer and as the performer of this remarkable work. Do not miss it.
This is the fourth production in Guy Masterson's #LestWeForget series at the Bakehouse and was directed by
Daniel Llewelyn-Williams who, with
Tim Baker, formed Flying Bridge Theatre which produced this work and previously brought us A Regular Houdini. You still have time to catch this and two others that are still running at the Bakehouse, Mengele, and Shell Shock. Be sure to see these great productions.
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