Theatre review: Engaging and ultimately moving portrayal of the community caught up in the Falkland War

Falkland Sound

By Brad Birch

Dir: Aaron Parsons

Royal Shakespeare Company

The Swan Theatre, Stratford upon Avon.

Review by Nick Le Mesurier

To some born after the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, the Falklands war is probably a minor episode in recent history. But for many who lived through the 1980s it represents the high point of her career and the last example of plucky Britain.

The people whose voices are not often heard in this post-colonial story are the Falkland Islanders themselves. The Islands are a long way from anywhere, and their inhabitants resolutely believed they were British, even though Argentina had a strong claim to

sovereignty. To the Argentines, ‘Las Malvinas’ was, and is, a rather greater matter of pride, which the dictator Galtieri at the time sought to exploit. In 1982 a largely conscript army invaded the island, only to be repulsed by a British taskforce that was sent 8,000 miles in a remarkable example of logistics and national pride.

It’s a great story, and writer Brad Birch’s three-hour docu-drama at the RSC tells it well.

The main character is the community itself, made up of many. Each tells a little bit of their own and the island’s history, mainly in speeches directed at the audience. The effect is kaleidoscopic. The run up to the conflict is perhaps a little too long, but scenes during the fighting are fast paced and exciting. Particularly engaging is the relationship between the islanders and the Argentine soldiers. Many of the latter were little more than boys.

There are few stars in this fine ensemble, but Alvaro Flores as the Argentine officer Sebastian is exceptional in his portrayal of a man and a country divided in its aims.

It is at the level of politics that the play is at its weakest. Sebastian is a good man, but naïve. Representatives of the Tory establishment and a set of ‘representative’ characters from all classes in Britain at the time are stereotypes straight out of Spitting Image, though they are played with energy and wit. Falkland Sound is an engaging and ultimately moving portrayal of a community proud if its identity, but whose people are pawns in a political game that is way beyond their control.

The play runs until September 16. https://www.rsc.org.uk