All Australians grow up knowing the story of Breaker Morant, the black-sheep son of an English admiral who was sent to Australia, redeemed himself fighting in the early Boer war and then, in 1902, was court-martialled for the murder of Boer prisoners of war. English children do not, and with good reason: the English stiff upper lip does not come out of the episode at all well.
Produced by the Comedians theatre company and starring Adam Hills as the hot-headed, poetry-writing Harry Morant, this is an old-fashioned courtroom yarn that may not have you on the edge of your seat, but won't have you sneaking out of it midway through, either. Hills' lack of acting experience shows in a certain stiffness, but he demonstrates just the right edge of sunny belligerence that must have made Morant a thorn in the side of the British military. There is lively support from the rest of the cast as lawyers and unreliable witnesses, sporting a wondrous array of whiskers and moustaches.
What makes the story interesting now is not just the showdown between English Victorian values and Australian openness, or a military who were perfectly happy to utilise the bush skills of the Australians in the African veld despite viewing them as "damned colonial scoundrels". Its power lies in the fact that it demonstrates what happens when the army sends young men off to do a job without giving them a clear military or moral framework in which to do it. Morant's claim that he was only following orders is not a defence but an indictment of a British military high command that turned a blind eye and then tried to evade responsibility when those lower down the chain behaved badly. Events in Iraq spring to mind.
The production needs to be punchier, and may well be after a few more performances, but this old play has a surprising power as it explores a shameful episode in British history and the absurdities of war. When told he is to be indicted for inciting murder, Morant simply replies: "Isn't that what war is?"
· Until August 27. Box office: 0870 745 3083
