Armstrong's War

Armstrong’s War features just two characters – a young Canadian soldier who is recovering in hospital after a stint in Afghanistan, and a 12-year-old girl guide who comes to read to him so that she can earn her community service badge. Halley Armstrong, a feisty and determined young girl guide, chose her soldier Michael because they had the same last name. It soon becomes clear that the title is not just referring to Michael’s war in Afghanistan – Halley too is fighting her own battles, and it is these shared war wounds which bring our unlikely pair together in this profound and emotional whirlwind of a play.

The play is set entirely within Michael’s hospital room and we meet the pair over six weekly sessions as Halley diligently reads aloud to the initially reluctant soldier. After the first session in which Michael interrupts her enthusiastic reading of a teenage detective story by asking if she has any war books, Halley comes back with The Red Badge of Courage which is set in the American Civil War, and it is through this story that Michael is finally able to voice his own war story to Halley. Halley, who is in a wheelchair, finds that she has more in common with Michael than she thought, and as their stories come tumbling out their shared emotions of anger, loneliness and regret fill the small stage with such power that one cannot help but feel extremely moved.

In the main, the two actors worked well together in the tiny space that is the Finborough Theatre – Jessica Barden was particularly fantastic as Halley and a completely convincing 12-year-old, with wide innocent eyes and a vivacious youthful energy that was palpable despite her confinement to a wheelchair. However she also managed to bring incredible emotional depth to the character as we discovered the deeper wounds in Halley which had scarred her much more than her physical disability. Mark Quarterly gave a confident performance as soldier Michael Armstrong, carefully treading the balance between the vulnerability and strength of a wounded soldier, but unfortunately could not quite match Barden’s emotional depth during the more difficult scenes, which sometimes left his performance feeling a little flat.

Whilst the difficult politics involved in the war in Afghanistan and war in general are mentioned, there could perhaps be more of this – in such a dialogue-heavy play there was room for more depth here, but a lack of political debate was more than compensated for by the play’s delicate representation of a fountain of complicated emotions. It is more about pain and grief than it is about war, but this is not a depressing piece; it is a touching portrayal of how sharing one’s pain softens the load, and the hope that can be found with the help of a friend.

Armstrong’s War has just finished its preview run at the Finborough Theatre and will transfer to Canada for its official world premiere in October.