Blaring bagpipes and projections of flags immediately hit me when I walked into the theater. Four TV screens on the sides of the rectangular room showed blue and white flags flapping in the wind. These visuals foreshadowed the deep and slightly aggressive pride for Scotland that is central to the play Black Watch.

The National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Black Watch at St. Ann’s Warehouse (located in DUMBO) is about Scottish soldiers, and their views of the Iraq War. The Black Watch is the oldest regiment in Scotland. We follow 10 soldiers’ lives, from being in battle, to their downtime, and talking with their friends. We also watch the effects war has on them when they return home.

The plot was slow in the beginning. The story does not have a traditional plot, moving towards a goal or ending, but rather creates more of a free-form experience going in-depth regarding various sides of the process of war. The plot gets stronger as the play goes on, and the final sequence with the characters fighting is powerful. The actors, who speak in thick Scottish accents, are responsible for keeping the action alive and moving, and their dedication was apparent from start to finish.

It seems as though everyone has a specific opinion on war, so it might be very easy for Black Watch to show a strong bias. However, Black Watch, written by Gregory Burke, and directed by John Tiffany, remained neutral. The play was left up to individual interpretation, which is both freeing, and slightly frustrating, since I kept searching for the moral of the play.

The lighting and sound really stood out to me, sometimes overshadowing the actors’ performances. The loud and realistic sound effects of guns and bombs, created by Gareth Fry, simulate and create an atmosphere of fear and anxiety. The loudness contrasts with, and puts emphasis on, the silence in dialogue between the soldiers. With little-to-no scenery, the lighting, by Colin Grenfell, was needed to signify time change, such as the sun coming up, and a change of scenery, from being on battle grounds to inside a bar. Both the lighting and sound made the play more menacing, and the show would not have been as meaningful or powerful without these two elements.

Movement from Steven Hoggett, although unexpected in a war story, appeared often in Black Watch. There was random singing and dancing, which at first seemed out of place, but after a while, became a natural part of the play. One particularly memorable scene was when the soldiers read letters from home, and then one by one, they dropped them, and did abstract hand movements to classical music in the background.

Black Watch was entertaining, visually impressive, and thought provoking. In the end, the artistic accomplishments of those who created this surprising piece of theatre made a larger impact than the spoken words about the experience of war.

Check out the trailer to get a sense of the show: