Barbican Theatre: Black Watch

     On Monday January 10th we saw the play Black Watch at the Barbican Theatre.  During dinner in the cafe we were all discussing the aesthetics of the building itself, and I personally felt it was too dark.  Tine made a comment that the walls looked like rock and the whole place felt like a cave, and I agreed but I felt that that gave the Barbican a negative atmosphere.  The place needed more color, everything appeared to be black or grey tones.  The theatre itself was very interesting, the stage split the audience straight down the middle into two raised seating sections.  As soon as I walked in I thought it might be an interactive play because sometimes when the audience is so close to the stage they call on volunteers, but it was not like that at all.  The play was about a group of young Scottish males who joined the Afghanistan War to help the Americans.  It takes the perspective of the soldiers which is very personal to their own experiences within the army and with each other.  Overall, I thought the play was very powerful.  However, I still can not decide if I really liked it or not.  I thought the actors were all great but there was a lot of strong language used throughout and it was very hard to understand their strong Scottish accents at times.  There was minimal scenery and costumes used yet I was impressed with the use of sound and lighting to produce an atmosphere, much like how I liked the special effects in War Horse.  It was a very different experience to hear about the war not from the American perspective, and at times the Scottish boys referenced the American soldiers in both good and bad ways that sometimes put me on edge.  And even though I do not personally know anyone in the war, I was still greatly effected by the play and felt a strong emotional  pull towards the characters portraying these soldiers, some of whom did not make it out alive.  I thought it was very powerful when the one boy was crying while sitting on the floor until he jumped up when the general came over to hand him a letter.  This shows that while the boys all acted tough and said they were there because they were excited to see some action and fight, the reality of war and death clearly upset them deeply in those vulnerable moments.  Plays or stories like this just make me appreciate so much that I have in my life and the people who are close to me.  I think this play was a huge success in the fact that the audience was engaged and emotionally willing to believe in the reality of the play, especially me personally.