My Boy Jack - Barons Court Theatre
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
CP Theatre Productions is presenting David Haig’s My Boy Jack at Barons Court Theatre – from February 2 to February 6, 2010.
My Boy Jack tells the story of Rudyard Kipling’s grief for his son, John “Jack” Kipling, who died in World War I but whose body was never found. The play was dramatised for television in 2007, starring Haig as Kipling and Daniel Radcliffe as John.
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The year is 1913 and war with Germany is imminent. Rudyard Kipling’s determination to send his myopic son to war triggers a bitter family conflict which leaves Britain’s renowned patriot devastated by the warring of his own greatest passions: his love for children – above all, his own – and his devotion to King and Country.
Simon Nader directs a cast that includes David Clifton (as Rudyard Kipling), Elizabeth Jee (Carrie Kipling), Govind Hodgson (John ‘Jack’ Kipling), Ruth Minkley, Paul O’Neill, Saskia Solomons, Hannah Anderson, Will Peverett, Mark Lewis and Andy Hamilton.
With contemporary conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, My Boy Jack has never been more relevant. Ally this to the numerous dissenting voices arguing that Britain shouldn’t be fighting at all, and the widespread scepticism about the reasons for war, and you have a neat parallel with the situation in Europe nearly a hundred years ago.
Moreover, Kipling himself, famously an advocate of war with Germany, resorted to the same emotive language as that used by Bush, Blair and others to justify war in the last decade.
Yet no matter our personal views of war (and that includes terrorism), My Boy Jack not only reminds us that real men and women continue to fight and die but also begs the question: does a cause ever justify so much death?
David Haig is an Olivier Award-winning actor and FIPA Award-winning writer. His numerous screen credits include Four Weddings and a Funeral, Talking Heads, The Thin Blue Line, The 39 Steps and The Thick of it.
Tickets: £10, £8 concessions.
Times: 7:30pm; Saturday matinee at 2:30pm.
For more information call the box office on 020 8932 4747 or visit www.cp-theatre.org.uk