The Channel Islands were the only part of Great Britain to be occupied by German forces during the Second World War. I know this firstly because I have an interest in history and secondly because of childhood holidays spent exploring the various islands; I even have a small, rusting fragment of German barbed wire I found there now sat amongst various aging paraphernalia in a bookcase at home. Theatre productions are always more interesting when they speak to you on a personal level and having possibly walked some of the same paths as Guernsey raised writer Guiliano Crispani added an extra resonance to the tale.
The play uses three archetypical characters to polarise the various attitudes towards the occupation and in doing so contains a number of similarities with the scenario Louis De Bernieres sets as the backdrop for Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. General Rolf Bernberg is the uninvited guest, the General responsible for the occupation of the Islands including the play’s setting Guernsey. Ben De Carteret represents the polar opposite, the belligerent resistance to German presence (and history buffs will note that his surname is one of the most ancient in those Islands and patriotically akin to a John Bull or William Wallace.) Lotty represents the majority of the islanders caught in between this fairly genteel occupation and her duty of resistance.
The play follows the 5-year period of the occupation and documents the shifting emotional dynamic and wavering loyalties between Lotty and the General who has been billeted in her house. It moves from her cold shouldered resignation of the situation, through a softening as she comes to know and understand more about him, to a full blown forbidden romance before breaking down through the realisation that they will always be at odds with each other in more ways than that suggested by uniforms and flags.
It is not a story that provides any answers or even attempts to offer any real moral debate but more asks the audience to put themselves in the shoes of each of the characters. Of Lotty it asks just how close can she be with a soldier responsible for ensnaring her community. Of the General it asks if it is possible to maintain your warmth and humanity whilst tasked with the implementation of harsh orders and of Ben it asks if you could forgive a loved one who is only doing what she needs to survive.
Victoria Emslie in the titular role brings every ounce of conflicted emotion to the role from fury to love, from guilt to the search for redemption and her superb performance is well matched by Ian Reddington’s brusque General who slowly turns out to be not quite so easy to hate after all. Third player in this tryst, Mat Ruttle acts as the reminder of where her duty should lie but, as ever, human emotion just isn’t that clear-cut.
Not all battles are fought with tanks and bombs, some are smaller unarmed conflicts of the soul and of the heart and in many ways these are the hardest ones to reconcile, Lotty’s War is just such a battle.
