Time for Heroes at Baron’s Court

Time for Heroes, written by Kevin Lee and directed by Menelaos Karantzas, is an intense, honest and realistic play now on at Baron’s Court Theatre.

Below the Curtains Up pub, pertinent questions about the Afghanistan war are raised on stage. Kevin Lee opens a window on the world of war, and on families who lose their loved ones. The whole atmosphere – the simple stage set, the audience and the four actors (Jenny Coyle, Neil Hobbs, Duncan Mason, Lesley Molony) – reflects a small community affected by the “legacy and importance of the war”.

This play raises questions of truth and dishonesty, of what is right and wrong, of what is important and what isn’t. Lee writes about life and death, how people deal with pain and whether they accept the truth or not; the actors portray intensively the pain and grief of four different personalities; the audience experiences four reflections of people who deal with grief in a different way. Everyone is grieving over Jack, who was killed in the war in Afghanistan, yet living in their own illusions, harbouring different beliefs and opinions.

Time for Heroes is a wake-up call for a society that forgets or ignores the facts. Like soldiers, they obey, believe and are affected psychologically by the war, even though they’re not fighting it. In our world, death in war is respectable and acceptable; during conflict, lives are not important, dominated as they are by sorrow and pain. Whether a hero or not, the fact still remains that war affects everyone. Do we know what we’re fighting for?

The actors’ performances touch the audience, bringing tears to many an eye. They leave the theatre touched, though in a state of agitation. Time for Heroes opens the audience’s eyes to the harsh reality so long ignored: that war affects everyone. This is a play that reveals the emotional desolation of those left behind, a play that everyone should experience.

Sevastiana Nourou

Time for Heroes is on at Baron’s Court Theatre until 28^th February 2015, for further information or to book visit here.