Three Days in May (From Wiltshire Times)

Theatre Royal Bath, until September 17

10:00am Friday 16th September 2011 in Theatre & Arts By Mike Wilkinson, Senior Reporter

IN his first return to the stage in over ten years Warren Clarke impressed with his charismatic portrayal of Winston Churchill in Three Days in May.

Clarke, perhaps better known to many as Dep Supt Andy Dalziel from BBC television series Dalziel and Pascoe, conveyed the dry wit and intellect of Churchill with great attention to detail.

The setting for Ben Brown’s Tplay is the British war cabinet in which Churchill is joined by Neville Chamberlain (Robert Demeger), Lord Halifax (Jeremy Clyde), Clement Attlee (Michael Sheldon) and Arthur Greenwood (Dicken Ashworth) as they toil over whether to make concession to Hitler or to fight on until the bitter end.

Civil servant Jock Colville (James Alper) narrates the story through his diaries which share an intimate insight into the workings of Downing Street at the time.

Churchill’s impossible situation struck a chord with the audience as rousing words that have lived on in time, such as “history will be kind to me for I will write it”, paved the way for a powerful characterisation of the former Prime Minister by Clarke.

Demeger’s Chamberlain had a nervous disposition about him as he questioned his counterpart Lord Halifax’s support for negotiations with Mussolini, and in turn Hitler, but cometh the hour, cometh the man – when it came to crunch time the character sided with Churchill. The role was superbly played out.

The Labour men Greenwood and Attlee were at times the comic characters juxtaposed against their more refined Tory colleagues. Their obsession with the unions made for a humorous quip by Greenwood.

Writer Ben Brown suggests that it was at these war cabinet meetings that Churchill had his only wobble, but in his mind he knew what he had to do.

What is most pleasing about Brown’s work is that it encapsulated the message that at the end of the day these five men did not barter with the Nazis but instead they did what was right for Britain.

From the complicated chapter the Second World War plays in world history, this production homes in on just three crucial days and the sturdy resolve of one man – Churchill – making for a must-see exploration of a little known aspect of Britain’s darkest hour.

Mike Wilkinson