British Theatre Academy presents Dogfight at Southwark Playhouse

Dogfight – photo by Eliza Wilmot

A musical set around the Vietnam war where the main protagonists are fairly repellent and with few redeeming features really shouldn’t work, should it? Well, Ben J Pasek, Justin Paul and Peter Duncan don’t agree and as a consequence, I had a visit to the Southwark Playhouse to see The British Theatre Academy production of their show Dogfight.

It’s 1963 and a group of US marines are heading into San Francisco for a last night on the town before shipping off to Vietnam. Chief among the group are the “Three Bees” – Privates Eddie Birdlace (Stephen Lewis-Johnston), Boland (Joe Munn) and Bernstein (Matthew Michaels) – who have organised the traditional ‘Dogfight’ a cruel game with simple rules. Each Marine has put $50 in a pot and the one who brings the ugliest date to the party wins the money. The marines set out to find a date ‘good’ enough to win them the prize and Eddie believes his chances of winning are going to be guaranteed when he goes into a diner and meets young waitress Rose (Claire Keenan).

Eddie works his charms on her and Rose, overwhelmed by this handsome marine’s manner, agrees to go with him. At the party, the men are feeling confident while the women, with one exception, know nothing of what is occurring. The exception being Marcy (Charlotte Coles), a wisecracking, near-toothless prostitute who Boland, in defiance of the rules, has procured for the evening. As the evening progresses, Marcy has a heart to heart with Rose, while Eddie seems to be having second thoughts about his involvement in the ‘Dogfight’. For both Rose and Eddie, this night is going to be long and have a profound effect on both of them that will last for years to come.

My initial thoughts about Dogfight were really not that positive. The basic story of men treating women in such a contemptuous way not only goes against everything we believe in today but also brought back memories of my time in the RAF when things like this were, if not the norm, something that occurred occasionally. However, give the show it’s due, there is no attempt to glamorise the marines. In fact, it soon becomes obvious that their attitudes and self-belief are the result of the lies they are told by the military establishment and ultimately the government. This is really summed up well in the song “Hometown Hero’s Ticker Tape Parade” which promises of the rewards to come for America’s chosen few.

This production has two separate casts and the one I saw was really superb. With every actor really throwing themselves into their parts and delivering a first-rate performance. Stephen Lewis-Johnston and Claire Keenan as Eddie and Rose respectively looked and sounded great together with a real chemistry that permeated the entire theatre. Eddie’s journey from swaggering ‘hero’ to nervous suitor and finally to a broken man was a pleasure to watch. Drawing every nuance out of the character, Stephen Lewis-Johnston takes us along the journey so we started out despising Eddie, then understanding him and finally wanting to help him as he realised what his country had done for him. Equally impressive was Claire Keenan. Rose has some very emotional songs, from the ecstatically happy “Nothing Short of Wonderful” to the emotionally draining “Pretty Funny” and Claire delivers every ounce of Rose’s emotions in fantastic style.

Director Dean Johnson doesn’t have much space in which to operate but manages to fit in great movement and, with Choreographer George Lyons, some very impressive dance numbers. Designer, Andrew Exeter and Dean Johnson have kept the set small but effective, making great use of wooden crates. The costumes are on the whole very era-appropriate though some of the uniforms didn’t look quite right, but this is a minor point. The four-piece band under MD Leo Munby sounded good though, as the actors weren’t mic’d up, there were a couple of times when the music slightly overwhelmed the voices.

Dogfight is an unusual musical and I found myself moving from feeling a bit negative to actually loving the story. The writing is great, the songs really flesh out the narrative and, in the talented hands of The British Theatre Academy, the show is definitely worth a trip to Southwark to see.

Review by Terry Eastham for London Theatre 1