WHEN it comes to one-man shows, Private Peaceful’s depiction of a young soldier facing the firing squad in the First World War must be one of the hardest, particularly with actor Andy Daniel facing the task of playing the heroes and villains of this adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s popular book.

“It’s a challenge, but it’s a joy of a piece to do and a real privilege of a story to get the chance to tell. I kind of feel more delighted to have the opportunity to do it,” he says.

Daniel does confess to feeling the weight of history on his shoulders with the production’s run linking to the centenary commemoration of the conflict known as the Great War.

“We did a special performance in the BBC tent at the Edinburgh Festival on August 4 and it did feel very humbling to be part of the experience.

I had done Journey’s End before, which is also about the First World War, and again I was part of a Remembrance Day event and remember it being very emotional. It may be 100 years ago, but that is only three generations ago,” he says.

The actor’s grandfather is 90 and was involved in the Second World War with his great-grandfather serving in the Aberdeen Pals regiment and surviving the whole 1914-18 conflict.

“When I was in rehearsal I had a long conversation with my grandfather about the wars and the thing that is great is the age bracket (audience) is eight and upwards. I think adults respond very strongly to the play as well. It’s great to be able to make it available to a younger audience who will see it more as history. This is about people just like us, not figures in history. They were ordinary people who had to do extraordinary things,” says Daniel.

He plays Private Tommo Peaceful who is really too young to have joined up, but now faces a firing squad after seeing his older brother slain.

Tommo takes the audience through his painful route to his final hours on earth with the allimportant humour and humility required in any great family production.

Daniel feels a lot of the work has been done for him by the words of Morpurgo which have been adapted by Simon Reade, who also directs.

“I also read the book and the wonderful things about Tommo is that he’s an optimist and what you see is when he goes back through his life although some horrible things happened – his father has died when he was young and he loses the love of his life – his spirit is there through the majority of the play.

“That’s what makes him such a likeable character. You can’t help but fall a little bit in love with Tommo and the audience becomes his friend during the course of the play. He plays all the other characters as well and the way I made all of them well-rounded is that the director reminded me that Tommo believes in fairness and finding the good in people. Even if it’s someone Tommo doesn’t like, he wants to give them a fair crack of the whip,” he says.

Daniel feels that the result is that Tommo brings out the best in him because “he is everything good that I’d like to be. Someone told me the other day that he’s not really a hero and I said, ‘It depends what you mean by hero because I think he is. He never loses who he is through all the things that happen to him and to me that makes him a hero’. Tommo admits he’s scared but he does go off and do things like a raid on a German trench and he survives a gas attack. I think he’s a wonderful character,” he says.

ON the subject of playing Sergeant Hanley, who is responsible for the terrible fate suffered by Tommo and his brother, Daniel says he went off to chat to a real life soldier of the same rank and was advised that there are some ranks who like to manipulate the piece of power they have.

“But, again the crucial thing was that we couldn’t make him a 2D villain and the sergeant believes you have to break people down to build them back up and if they can’t handle him, then they can’t handle the war. Therefore, in his mind all his actions are justified. Today we see him as a bully and it’s a tricky moment to show why he’s sees Tommo’s brother, Charlie, as rebellious when Charlie is really a leader, who all the other men will follow,” he says.

One result of the First World War’s casualty lists was that the Army stopped recruiting pals’ regiments which had seen family and friends being killed at the same time.

“It’s sad, but there is a fun side to it and a joy as a performer to play all these characters,” he says. The actor’s tour of duty started in February and includes quite a route march to Barnstable after the play visits Darlington for a week from Tuesday, September 9.

Daniel is aware that, unlike War Horse (Michael Morpurgo’s other First World War tale), Private Peaceful wasn’t snapped up by Hollywood and ended up as a smaller Britishmade movie before becoming a play.

“There is a stigma attached to children’s books and theatre, but this is one of the most adult of Michael’s stories. It deals with some big issues, but the great thing with Michael is that he doesn’t patronise children, which is why he appeals to a family audience.

“At Edinburgh we’ve had more adults than children coming along, and the response has been fantastic and people really do buy into the story. Theatre is at its best when adults watch a show with their children. Much of the plot has an understanding on two levels. When Tommo recalls about going to school, at five, and talks about his eight-year-old brother having done everything and knows everything, the adult response is to laugh at the irony, but the children nod and accept this as a fact.”

Unlike most family shows Private Peaceful is heading for a harrowing conclusion.

“Part of the reason Michael wrote the book was to put pressure on the Government and Army to posthumously pardon those who were shot at dawn. I think it’s important because this is something that really happened and it is difficult to do every day,” says Daniel... an actor shot at dawn nearly every day.

  • Private Peaceful, Darlington Civic Theatre, Tuesday, September 9 to Saturday, September, 13. Box Office: darlingtoncivic.co.uk