My Boy Jack

MY Boy Jack is an enthralling look at the real-life tragedy of one of the world's most prolific and well-respected authors.

Actor-turned-dramatist David Haig exquisitely depicts the inner turmoil of Rudyard Kipling, as he juggles the aching loss of a son with his own ideologies on war.

Belinda Lang, who plays Kipling's wife Carrie, is equally absorbing, with her emotional performance as a grieving mother ranking on a par with Haig.

As the couple's 18-year-old son Jack (Ben Silverstone) heads for the frontline, the emptiness left by his departure is carved into every expression. Blame, guilt and anger sets in as Jack's war heroics threaten to tear the Kipling family apart.

From the author's dank and moody home on the Sussex coast to the frontline trenches in France, this play captures the gritty depression of First World War years in a nutshell. You could almost smell the gunfire.

My Boy Jack sheds a welcome glimmer of light on the private life of one of the world's greatest authors, with the tragic subject matter expertly handled.

Absorbing, moving and immaculately constructed, Haig has already proved himself to be a compelling dramatist.