Black Watch

Synopsis

A theatrical investigation based on interviews conducted by Gregory Burke with former soldiers of the Black Watch who served in Iraq. Valued for the clan ties and bravery at its heart, the Black Watch has been in the vanguard of countless British military expeditions from Waterloo and the Somme to Kosovo. Its last great challenge before amalgamation was relieving American forces at Camp Dogwood in Iraq.

Our Review:

1 December 2010

Now something of a worldwide theatrical phenomenon, Black Watch was initially presented by the fledgling National Theatre of Scotland in 2006. Both the company and Gregory Burke's tale of young Scottish squaddies fighting in Iraq have now firmly established themselves, exported both Scottish theatre and the regiment's story.

The play's second trip to the Barbican, having previously visited London in June 2008, it is striking how the intervening years have aged the play. Actors depict the then Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon debating the political motivation behind the regiment's Iraqi deployment with the then Leader of the Scottish National Party (now no longer a Member of Parliament and the Scottish First Minister respectively).

A sardonic comedy (gallows humour, we are told, is a trademark of the "Jocks"), John Tiffany's production combines interviews with the soldiers in a Scottish pub on a Sunday afternoon with their everyday lives in Camp Dogwood, Basra. W...

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Latest User Review

Alex G - 22 July 2008:

What a wonderful piece of theatre. It still had the same impact on me the second time around as i was lucky enough to see it in Glasgow last year. Acting uniformly brilliant and yes as one becomes immersed in the play you forget that they are actors on stage and not 'real' soldiers. Deserves a longer run for all those unlucky enough to miss it as the returns queue was pretty long....

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