★★★★
“There is a German sniper over there.” Michael Hughes points behind you, the audience, and under the soft lighting, following the gunfire in the background, with Hughes in his battered uniform—you shiver. Inspired by real events, The Last Bantam is a haunting, tender journey following one soldier’s journey through the First World War. Playing at Greenside @ George Street, the compact Mint Studio lends an intimacy that brings the audience right into the trenches with him.
Patrick Michael Wolfe is a science teacher from Ireland and he wants to enlist. He wants to fight, not because he’s particularly passionate about the cause, but because he’s passionate about a different cause, a promise: the promise for home rule if the Irish enlist. The promise for power to be given to Ireland, from Great Britain. But the army don’t want him. He’s 5’3”, a height he has endured all his life; whatever you throw at him, he’s heard it before. Eventually he is accepted, and the audience are taken from his Irish home to France, to the front lines.
Hughes delivers a masterclass in storytelling. Without getting carried away, his words are simple and effective. Every emotion is eked out of the audience in the smallest of ways, through letters and flashbacks to his childhood. Wolfe talks about his fellow comrades, and the story weaves in between all of these parts to become a delicate web of a show. He transforms what you might conjure up of the war and puts you right there in the midst of it, humanising every aspect, in a raw, uncomplicated way. This really happened, he says, without fanfare.
The beauty of the show lies in the simplicity. For the most part Hughes delivers his one-man show The Last Bantam in his uniform, centre stage. There is little deviation from his original stance, making any change all the more significant to the narrative. Gentle shifts in lighting put the emphasis on fighting, or more heartfelt moments, stitching together the atmosphere in the room. But as well as tender and nuanced, The Last Bantam is funny. Sharp wit dots about the cleverly written script and the audience chuckle through the performance as they relate, impossibly, to the plights of Wolfe.
A charmingly magnetic show, The Last Bantam glues you to the spot. Hughes compels throughout, as you follow Wolfe through the war and everything is brought harrowingly close to reality through his words. The narrative is stunning and a little different from other stories of the war. Earnest, honest and strikingly hopeful despite everything, The Last Bantam is a show that you will remember for a long time afterwards.
The Last Bantam will be performed at Greenside @ George Street until 23 August as part of Edinburgh Fringe.
Words by Hannah Goldswain
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