The Unreturning
Theatre Royal, Stratford East

THIS intricately designed poetic drama, weaving together the narratives of three war victims, has all the hallmarks of director Neil Bettles’s work with Frantic Assembly.

Staged around a revolving, shape-shifting shipping container,  skilful choreography and synchronised movement blend the tortured experiences of a first world war shell-shocked soldier, a contemporary disgraced Camp Bastion squaddie and a refugee from a martially governed futuristic dystopia who are all attempting to return to their northern British homes and regain something of the past.

Along with former trainees of Frantic Assembly’s training programme Ignition, Bettles has transformed Anna Jordan’s play into a beautifully crafted indictment of the often-forgotten victims of war who are unable to come to terms with their traumatic experiences and the transformation of the emotional and physical landscape that awaits and belies their homecoming expectations.