 A Soldier's Song
SYNOPSIS:
"MOVING AND LETHALLY UNSENTIMENTAL. VERY GRIM AND VERY GOOD INDEED." (The Mail On Sunday)
Guy Masterson's powerful adaptation of Ken Lukowiak's brilliant account of his combat experiences during the Falklands War of 1982 was a sell-out success at the 1998 Edinburgh Festival. It since played London's B.A.C., all over the United Kingdom, and has toured to Holland, New Zealand, Ireland and Hungary.
"A Soldier's Song" brings the battlefield to the stage, giving the audience a strong idea of what it is like to be under fire, to kill or be killed, the fundamental horrors of war and the effects it can have on the human soul. It exposes the true nature of soldiery from mundanity to combat. It gives us all a good reason to think twice about sending our sons off to war. This is the theatre of War and all its facets, invoking the horror, terror and shame of combat, the black humour, futility and tedium of a soldier's life in the front line and the lingering effects of Post Traumatic Stress. Deeply disturbing and frightening at times, it is also extremely funny, employing the dark "squaddie" humour to offset the darkness. The brutal demotic language and life of the battlefield is brought to vividly to life.
 Reviews:
"Masterson's unique brand of poetic performance storytelling is a must-see. Only a few could attempt what he does... fewer still could get away with it." (The Times)
"A Soldier's Song is an honest and emotive evocation of life on the front line... an exact insight into the nature of futility... Bravura acting!" (The Herald)
 "Masterson's beautifully understated performance delivers the bullet straight to the brain... It's an A1 top-hole, first class, first hand experience of what an exploding shell can do to human flesh." (The Guardian)
"A magnificent, powerfully haunting tour de force. Storm the box office!" (The List)
"We are transported inside the war itself, it's hard to believe you are watching a play. Brutally honest and unsentimental its the best war movie never made!" (Evening News)
"An intense, powerful performance." (The Stage)
Programme Notes
The Gulf War was a media bonanza, but much about the Falklands Conflict remained unreported. The politics of the situation was certainly far from clear and no formal declaration of war was ever made. To a new generation of professional soldiers, 'seeing action' was an opportunity to put hard training to good use, to prove once again Britain's prowess as a force to be reckoned with. 'Maggie's Boys', with full UN backing for the reversal of Argentina's 'unwarranted aggression and illegal invasion', and World opinion weighted in their favour, travelled 8000 miles to the South Atlantic in one of the most logistically challenging military expeditions ever attempted. But, heavily outnumbered and attacking a force well dug in for over a month, defeat was not unthinkable. The weather was always going to be a major factor which could easily disrupt Britain's grossly overstretched supply lines and tip the balance of the war... and the Navy's several disastrous reversals at the hands of a well trained Argentine Air Force also very nearly proved terminal to the mission...
Ken Lukowiak, the author of the book from which this monologue has been adapted, served with 2 Para. He was involved in the fifteen hour battle for Goose Green and the liberation of Port Stanley. He was also present at the disastrous bombing of the Sir Galahad and the Sir Tristram at Bluff Cove.
A Soldier's Song
biographies
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Tony Boncza (director)
[Click name for Biog]
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 Ken Lukowiak (book author)
Ken Lukowiak was born in Swindon in 1959. He joined the Parachute Regiment in July 1979 serving in Northern Ireland, Belize and The Falklands. He left the Army in 1984. In early 1990, during a period of time he now describes as his darkest, he began to write A Soldier's Song. In 1991, he started treatment for Post Traumatic Stress which he continues today. In March 1992, his article, A Soldier's Song was published to great acclaim in the Guardian Weekend Magazine. In April 1993, the first English edition of the book A Soldier's Song was printed by Secker & Warberg. Later that same year, it was published in Argentina entitled La Cancion Del Soldado, and in December of 1996, Czytelink of Warsaw published the first Polish language edition, Piosenka Zolnierza. In June 1997, a new English edition was published by Orion Paperbacks with a revised and updated foreword. His follow-up, Marijuana Time, was published in June 2000 by Orion. He is currently working on a new book Warrior to Worrier.
Since A Soldier's Song was published, Ken has returned to war in Bosnia and Rwanda as a features writer, and covered those conflicts for The Mail On Sunday, Esquire and GQ magazines. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, The Daily Mail and BBC Radio Four.
In 1995 he returned to The Falklands for The Mail on Sunday, Night and Day Magazine. The following year, for The Guardian, he travelled to Argentina for the first time and once again face the men who had been his enemies in 1982. He now lives in Truro, Cornwall with Cathie and her daughter Lisa.
Visit Ken Lukowiak's own website at www.marijuanatime.com.
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Gina Hills (sound designer)
Gina gained a degree in genetics from Cardiff University before training as a Theatre Electrician. She worked for several years at the Salisbury Playhouse where her sound designs included Little Voice for Dominic Hill; Equus and A Winter's Tale for Joanna Read; Oleanna, Disappearances, The Alchemical Wedding and Colombe for Jonathan Church; Moll Flanders for John Doyle; the ESC co-production of Antony and Cleopatra for Michael Bogdanov; Dancing at Lughnasa and Travels with my Aunt for Rupert Goold; Wallflowering for Gwenda Hughes; Time and Time Again for Robin Herford, and True West and Lady Windermere's Fan for Jennie Darnell.
Freelance work includes A Soldier's Song for Guy Masterson Productions; Roger Llewelyn's Sherlock for Jay Productions; Gareth Armstrong's Shylock; Dracula for the Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke, and the national tour of Last of the Red Hot Lovers with Tom Conti.
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