A Vietnam veteran – now aged over 70 – is still struggling to internalise his battle experience. He can’t move on when his service – and inner pain – feels neither recognised nor understood in a nation shamed by defeat. In this simply told but deeply layered tale, we infer much from what is not said; though important, sometimes surprising, material is added as we go along. We briefly see how feeling left out and unable to relate can lead people towards populism. But ultimately a chance meeting with the son of a fallen comrade leads to fuller resolution and redemption. The storytelling here is supremely well crafted in the realist, literal American tradition, and no-one in the audience can have been left unmoved.

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, until 27 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Alan Cranston]