How I Got That Story
Finborough Theatre, London

Stephen Nash

Amlin Gray's 1981 play is a black comedy based around the experiences of a naive newspaper reporter entering the maelstrom of Vietnam in the 60s. There are only three actors in Whore's Oath's production, with Gerard Monaco and Kate Sissons taking on numerous roles and forming what is termed The Historical Event, while Richard Costello sticks to the central role as the reporter.

The reporter has come to Vietnam in search of a taste of real life and on one level the play can be seen as a rites of passage drama. When confronted by a saffron robed monk asking for a light, our naive reporter obliges before it dawns on him that he has participated in an act of self-immolation. Yes this is black comedy desperately trying to make a point. Should the reporter stand aside and continue to report the suicide or should he intervene to help? Does the reporter merely report the events unfolding or does he actually influence those events through his reporting.

Our intrepid reporters journey continues as he meets a selection of drug crazed GI wackos and inscrutable women fighters. Switching from bar girl to guerrilla fighter or from newspaperman to Apocalypse Now syndrome, the actors cannot be faulted for their versatility and timing. Unfortunately, for me the dated nature of the material and the rather banal conclusions of the play weighed very heavily upon the performance.

As with much American writing about Vietnam, the emphasis is on the psychological impact of the war on the Americans who were there. To an American audience trying to come to terms with the catastrophic defeat that their nation suffered at the hands of a third world country, the emphasis can never be on the political implications of this, but has to be seen through a therapeutic prism.

Vietnam, or 'Amboland' as it is in the play, is to be seen as one huge misunderstanding and black comedy played out on the international stage. No one knows why they are there or what they are fighting for. The emphasis in the play is on how the world of the newspaper reporter disintegrates around him not because of the chaos of war, but because he cannot get anyone to make any sense, as they hide behind linguistic subterfuges in order to survive that chaos. He is left with nothing he can rationally report on. Anyone not on drugs or corrupt who attempts to gain insights will end up mad, as our reporter does at the end of the play.

Why didn't it make me laugh? It's like watching anything from the past that you may have found funny at the time. That moment has passed and it no longer grips you. Having said that I don't think I would have laughed when it first came out either. This is very much a play of its time. It has to be seen in the American context of films like the Deer Hunter which provided Americans with a psychological prop as they recovered from their Vietnam trauma.

The play is dated on a number of levels. Whilst the issue of war and the reporting of war may be in the news again, Iraq has very little in common with Vietnam. It would have been far more interesting to see our intrepid trio tackling a contemporary work based on contemporary issues.

Till 27 March