Wednesday 9th - Saturday 12th September at 7:30pm
Matinee Saturday 12th September at 2:00pm
Q&A Session with Owen Sheers - Saturday 12th September 4:15pm
Brought to the city by Next Stage - a story seldom staged, yet impossible to forget. Pink Mist is a rarely-performed, gripping drama told in echoing verse that reverberates through the mind long after the final line. It follows three young men from Bristol as they answer the call of adventure, confront the brutal reality of conflict, and return home forever changed. Raw, beautifully lyrical, and deeply human, this powerful play - woven from the stunning, resonant language of Owen Sheers - reveals the hidden cost of modern warfare and the people left to gather the pieces.
Pink Mist - a lyrical journey through friendship, war and the echoes and shadows left behind.
A not-to-be missed staging at The Mission Theatre, Bath.
This amateur production of PINK MIST is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French, Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk.
Tickets: £18.50 | Concession: £14.50 (Full-time education, NHS and Universal Credit)
For every ticket sold, Next Stage Theatre Company will make a 50p donation to both the Royal British Legion and The Royal British Veterans Enterprise. Help us support them - book your tickets now.
Cast
Reviews
Pink Mist Review
Loraine Cotterhill for Radio Bath
On Tuesday evening I went along to the dress rehearsal of Pink Mist at The Mission Theatre in Bath, and I have to say, I came away with rather a lot to think about and some very soggy tissues. Pink Mist is The Mission Theatre’s latest in-house Next Stage Theatre Company production, and it’s a play by Owen Sheers, originally written as a radio drama and later adapted for the stage. It tells the stories of three young men from Bristol who join the Army in 2008 and are sent to Afghanistan. What follows is a powerful and, at times, painfully moving exploration of friendship, war, trauma and what happens when the soldiers eventually come home.
And this is not, by any means, a comfortable evening at the theatre. In fact, I'm reluctant to call what I saw was simply a "performance", because the cast of six actors were so talented and engaging that they kept me completely enthralled for the entire duration and were brilliantly directed by Kitty Muffett.
The production begins with a one-minute silence for the victims of 9/11 and, of course, for those affected by the subsequent war in Afghanistan. It immediately creates a sombre tone. And sitting there on the stage is a wheelchair - a quiet but powerful symbol of things to come. As do the lined up camouflaged helmets with poppies on at the end.
I hesitate to say it’s an ‘amateur’ cast because their performance was so accomplished. The talented cast of six includes Arthur, the lead narrator, Taff and Haz, plus the three women in their lives all dressed in muted colours, and the staging is relatively simple, with the actors moving in zig-zag patterns around the space. Arthur is the one encouraging his two friends to sign up for the Army. We follow them from their mundane lives in Bristol (familiar references to the St Pauls area and Cribbs Causeway), through their training at Catterick, and then into the horrors of Afghanistan.
And Owen Sheers' writing is extraordinary. Its poetic prose never feels over-written. The language has a rhythm and imagery which makes it particularly well-suited to the stage. There are lines that simply stop you in your tracks.
There are moments of humour and warmth early on, and that's important because we get to know these three as young men - friends with banter, hopes and ambitions - before we see what war does to them.
But perhaps the most powerful aspect of Pink Mist is that it isn't really a play about the battlefield. It's about what happens afterwards.
We see the physical and psychological consequences of war, including PTSD, flashbacks, alcoholism, homelessness and imprisonment. And crucially, we don't just see the experience through the eyes of the soldiers and their loved ones.
I particularly appreciated what you might call the ‘female gaze on war’, through the three female characters - one mother and two partners of the soldiers. They too are afflicted by the consequences of war. They have to live alongside men who have returned physically and psychologically changed, and they struggle to understand what has happened to the people they knew.
There are scenes where the characters recognise that "nothing was what it was", and those moments really got to me. I found myself reaching for the tissues on numerous occasions - partly because of the individual stories, but also because of the sheer futility of war.
The Mission Theatre is a very intimate space, and that works brilliantly for this production. There's nowhere to hide - for the actors or the audience. You're incredibly close to what is happening, and when the subject matter becomes intense, that intimacy makes it all the more affecting.
There is also a surprising revelation towards the end, which I'm certainly not going to spoil.
But one phrase from the play has particularly stayed with me: "Your history is under your feet."
I think that line may change the way I look at things. I don't think I'll ever again walk past a veteran sitting on the street without wondering about the history that's under their feet - and thinking about the debt of gratitude we owe to those who have served our country.
And that's perhaps the greatest compliment I can give Pink Mist. This is theatre that challenges you rather than simply entertaining you.
And it's also worth remembering that productions like this depend on audiences supporting their local theatres. Full-price tickets are only £18, which, for the quality and ambition of this production, seems remarkable value. The Mission Theatre has welcomed distinguished visitors over the years - Alan Ayckbourn has been here - and productions like Pink Mist are a reminder of just how much can be achieved in an intimate local theatre.
Finally, there's another very good reason to go along this Saturday Sept 12th at 2pm:
Owen Sheers himself will be at The Mission Theatre watching the matinee and then taking part in a Q&A session at 4.15pm – cost £5 for the Q&A payable on the door – all proceeds to charity. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear directly from the writer about Pink Mist, its characters and the extraordinary language he's created.
If you're looking for theatre that challenges you, moves you, and gives you something to talk about afterwards, then I'd certainly recommend giving Pink Mist a look.
It's powerful, it's thought-provoking, and at times it's painfully moving.
The production is running at The Mission Theatre in Bath from Wednesday 9th to Saturday 12th September at 7:30pm, with a Saturday matinee at 2pm.
