My Great Grandfather's War

The musty, bunker-like cavern of the Baby Belly is a fitting venue for Cameron Stewart’s stage adaptation of his grandfather’s diaries. These are first-hand accounts from the First World War by a mid-ranking officer, detailing the ubiquitous chaos with remarkable wit and level-headedness.

Stewart’s admiration for his late grandpa, Captain Alexander Stewart, drives this warmly engaging one-man show which combines exuberant theatrics with a documentary-like narration in a bid to doubly adorn and inform. His casual demeanour on stage gives the show a classroom feel, with a particularly zany teacher at the helm. Much of the show consists of loosely scripted, conversational asides, lending it a kind of atmosphere in which someone with a question could probably put up their hand and ask it without disturbing the flow of the performance or the performer. Whether or not this is a positive thing in this kind of setting is debatable, but the friendliness of it all does stand out.

We’re all familiar with wartime stories by now, and, while the show is engaging enough, it’s not as shocking or compelling as it wants to be. What really comes across here is not so much the hellishness of war and the way soldiers cope with it, as it is the grandson’s formidable pride for his family. This is for the boys among us who can share his excitement for courage and gallantry. The diaries have now been published online and in print, entitled A Very Important Officer.