“Duty.” A word vague in its specificity, poorly defined and often poorly deployed. Used to justify, sanctify and moralise. Duty to kings and to countries. To monarchs and monopolies. To diktats and deities. To family and to friends. Against the backdrop of the First World War, Twilight Theatre’s latest production is a compelling and heart-wrenching examination of what it means to do or to defy one’s duty.
Told from the point-of-view of a pacifistic conscientious objector, John (played by Matt Vickery), the Great War, as it was yet to be known, casts its shadow across the county of Sussex. Recruitment officers have descended upon a rural, farming community and soon the call-to-arms can be heard to beat within many a young man’s chest. But for some duty is not merely a blind obeisance to country or cause but something to be interrogated, something that can be manipulated for good or for ill. Soon inner conflicts ravage as overseas ones rage and John wrestles with a guilt that refuses to be quieted.
Duty is a production personal in its poignancy and poignant in its personality. It is not a show of sweeping rhetoric loose in its intention but of well-defined snapshots of lives led and lost. Through the haze of yesteryear arrive lessons never learned which we would do well to heed today. The past, as much as it may pain us to admit it, is not another country. The proliferation of Sussex town names throughout the show brings this salient point home (quite literally, in this case), with the Battle of Boar’s Head (better known as the Day that Sussex Died) having ravaged many communities along the south coast. This happened here, along a stretch of coastline where, on a quiet day, the guns could be heard from across the water.
The cast apply themselves to the task of lifting that which could, in the wrong hands, descend into an overly sombre and somewhat alienating subject matter. A palpable camaraderie between the “lads” – Jordan Southwell and Jake Marchant jostling and joking under the Sussex sun – serves the drama’s heavier moments, the laughter notable in its absence later on. Sam Nixon, as John’s mother Mags, is a tender yet world-wise foil to her son’s combative yet conflicted outlook. The whole cast bustles with an energy that resonates in the intimate space. Philosophising quickly descends into bickering, as it is so often want to do, which leaves the audience exasperated, the ever-looming conflict descending scythe-like.
Didactic yet never sermonising, Crosby’s narrative is anchored by a deep understanding of the period, thorough in its research and liberal in its empathy. An important story and a gripping watch, Duty is a sobering evening of theatre yet a wholly necessary one. We ought to heed its parable lest the lights of freewill and critical thought be extinguished, like lamps all over Europe.
The Lantern Theatre, Thursday 22nd May 2025
For tickets and further information click here
Photo by Peter Wiliiams
