Park Theatre, Finsbury Park – until 8th April 2023
Reviewed by Bobbi Fenton
5*****
‘Leaving Vietnam’ is an absolutely amazing play, written and performed by the brilliant Richard Vergette, showing how our individual experiences shape our characters and political views. Set in a car garage in America, We listen to decorated Vietnam War Veteran, Jimmy Vandenberg, tell his life story. Joining the US Marines at an early age, influenced by the photo of his grandfather, Jimmy tells stories about his time serving in Vietnam, about his friends and acquaintances he served alongside. After returning, he works in a ford garage before opening his own garage specialising in Ford Mustangs, although the play takes place when he is reaching retirement and taking on one last job. Through his stories we see how such a traumatic experience can impact on someone’s memory, as Jimmy tells stories about Vietnam in a non-chronological order, and goes back to stories because he has remembered another part of it. As a whole, this play does an amazing job of portraying how war affects people, and how many soldiers coming back from war struggle to adjust to being back at home, feeling as though they never left the war. As a result of serving in Vietnam, and realising how unfair it was that he had served when other men had escaped the draft, as well as the beliefs of the majority that the Vietnam War was shameful, we see Jimmy lean towards a certain political figure and their beliefs to ‘Make America Great Again’, which speaks specifically to Jimmy’s resentment towards his sacrifices going unacknowledged.
This play is a masterpiece. It expertly portrays how the men who returned from Vietnam were seen as the bad guys, and how these men felt betrayed by the very country that they had served. It is a reflection of how time and time again, people who feel disillusioned and excluded tend to turn towards populist politicians and views, voting for the same parties that are responsible for treating them so badly, such as mining communities in the UK voting for the same party in 2019 that was to blame for their demise in the 1980’s coal miners’ strike.
Throughout the play, the audience are on the side of Jimmy, feeling sympathy for him as he experiences such awful things, and a sense of disappointment on his behalf that he returned to a country that saw his and all the other men’s service as shameful. However towards the end of the play we are forced to shift our views of Jimmy as he becomes a Trump supporter, and we see how he exhibits some racist and homophobic views, although these views are challenged during a visit from the son of an old friend, which helps to repair the relationship with his wife as he reaches an understanding of why his views are seen as wrong by his wife. Everybody should experience this brilliant play.