Soldier Boy

A Melbourne theatre review by Alex First

It is October 1915.

Private James Martin (Oliver Tapp) is lying in bed on the hospital ship the Glenart Castle, coughing his lungs out.

Memories of his family back home in Australia come flooding back.

This is the story of a boy who, after blackmailing his parents, enlisted in the Army, having falsified his age.

While that was not uncommon at the time, 14, which Martin was, was particularly young. The official youngest age for military service was 18.

At school, Jimmy had been a keen cadet.

Once he joined the armed forces and underwent military training, he was deployed to Egypt, before being sent to Gallipoli to fight the Turks.

Until that point, he had never fired a shot in anger.

Conditions were harsh and unrelenting. Good drinking water was in short supply. Sanitation was questionable, to say the least.

Intense heat brought flies in plague proportions, before bitter cold took over.

As the casualty toll mounted, so too did those who fell severely ill with typhoid – among them Private James Martin.

With a cast of eight, Soldier Boy is a look back on the life and times of Martin and his extended family.

This was a lad who was keen on all things military from a young age. His father had tried to enlist, but was rejected.

We learn about the environment in which Jimmy was brought up and what happened to him after he joined the Army.

That includes his fate and that of others close to him.

Anthony Hill has dramatised his 2001 book of the same name into this play. He has done so alongside dramaturg Beng Oh, who also directs the piece.

Complete with evocative sound, lighting and costuming from Jack Burmeister, Sidney Younger and Adrienne Chisholm, respectively, we take a step back in time.

Excitement at seeing troops sent off to war turns to the harsh reality of boots on the ground.

Lest you think it is all dour, it is not. There are lashings of humour, although I felt they tended to the clichéd.

As the centrepiece of the production, Tapp readily channels the highs and lows of a youngster who had no idea what he was in for, as anticipation gives way to reality.

He literally soldiers on until he can no more.

I also thought that Laura Iris Hill was particularly strong as Martin’s loving, but no-nonsense mother. That was not only about how she carried herself, but the look in her eyes.

Others fill multiple roles.

In the cavernous space that is Theatre Works, on occasion, the soundscape made it difficult to clearly hear every spoken word.

It didn’t help that the staging (notwithstanding the potent timber set design by Viv Hagreaves) was on two levels. Mind you, the use of props worked well.

What certainly wasn’t lost on me was the magnitude and gravitas of what went down.

While deliberately focusing on Private Martin, Anthony Hill has crafted a powerful, emotion-charged story.

I was left in no doubt about just how the Gallipoli campaign impacted the lives of so many who were sent there, along with their families.

Soldier Boy is on at Theatre Works until 5^th July, 2025.