THEATRE REVIEW: Lotty's War ★★★

Lotty's War

The Everyman Theatre, London

Set in WWII, in the small town of Guernsey, on the Channel Islands, Lotty's war is a simple, straightforward, but dramatic and mesmerizing story about Lotty, who is living in her late fathers house, and when the Germans infiltrate Guernsey, she must house Rolf Bernberg, who is a General for the Occupational Forces.

Ben comes into the story as a friend of Lotty's, and when Rolf arrives, forbids Ben to enter the house again, and also forbids Lotty to leave the house, but through a radio signal, during the nights, Ben comes back to visit.

Not much can be said about the story, without ruining the plot, but I thought that the show was fantastic. Whenever I see a show advertised about the war, I feel like it will just follow the same pattern as most war stories are told, but this one was captured on stage and created by the diary's that Lotty wrote in Guernsey. Its nice to see a true story told out on stage, and because it was all personal with what was unfolding, I couldn't help but be gripped by these characters personality's, and the actions they took throughout the course of the play. 

All the actors were brilliant in their roles, and the set, a full working half of a house, with a pathway and grass on the outside, and tiling on the roof, really brought a lot of detail and really made me believe the story more with all the touches put into it.

There are some shocking turns to the play, most which the audience would probably not have guessed to see happen, and this made the show fill up with tension, but this was also helped through the relationship of Lotty and Rolf, and how their tension throughout the play took a lot of different turns for themselves.

This was a show that made me really excited about come the interval, because it left on such a moment, that you were hoping to see the rest of the show sooner, and it definitely didn't disappoint when it came.

This was a thought provoking show that anyone interested must go to watch, because it had everything that you could ask for; a sublime cast suited to their roles, a genius script, and a fantastic set and lighting design.