More storytelling than drama, Patrick Michael Wolfe (Michael Hughes) begins by almost barking at the audience – in a studio space – and while I didn’t see anyone else around me who was also sat with a pen and notebook, everyone was assumed to be a World War One reporter, and we were being issued instructions as how to proceed. Fail to heed the advice (sorry, orders) and, well, it’s your funeral.
I must admit I had no idea about the Bantam Battalions of World War One before seeing this show. They were formed because when war broke out, the minimum height requirement was 5’ 3”, and so shorter men like Wolfe were initially rejected by the various recruiting stations they visited. Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, received a letter from the MP for Birkenhead, requesting permission to form a unit of undersized men to help the war effort. As this production would have it, one rejected recruit was so furious at being turned down he issued a challenge to fight ‘any man’ to prove his worth. He beat six men before he was eventually dragged off.
Wolfe was told that if he signed up, Irish Home Rule was on the cards after the war was over. It wasn’t quite clear to me why leaving Ireland to fight for the British in Gallipoli and other places was directly related to the Home Rule movement. I’d thought, ever since another theatre play I saw some years ago introduced me to it, the 1916 Easter Rising had more to do with it. Anyway, the show’s brisk pace is maintained to the end – there’s a lot to get through in an hour – and as you might expect, there are huge numbers of injuries and fatalities as the show, and the war the show is about, progresses. This gets to the point where the Bantam Battalions are no longer distinct from others: such were the numbers of fallen soldiers that it became inevitable that they had to be replaced by taller men, until there was only one Bantam left, hence the show’s title.
The storytelling is second to none here. Having been distinctly unimpressed with efforts elsewhere to capture the horrors of war, this play does it convincingly. The honour and dignity afforded the fallen soldiers is done well, balanced with some lighter moments recounting moments of camaraderie, particularly when under enemy fire. Yes, it’s a war story, and it’s not exactly an easy watch. But it is a memorable one.
Review by Chris Omaweng
The Last Bantam is a one-man play written and performed by Michael Hughes. It tells the incredible story of Britain’s Great War ‘bantams’ – 30,000 men between 5’-5’3” who signed up to fight. It is told through Patrick Michael Wolfe, a teacher from Dublin who enlists in 1915 to secure Irish Home Rule. The Last Bantam is a story of patriotism, prejudice, courage and betrayal, the action ranging from the city of Dublin to the horrors of the Western Front. The Last Bantam is one of the few plays to examine Ireland’s role in the Great War and to focus on Britain’s forgotten bantam soldiers.
THE LAST BANTAM
Greenside @ George Street at the Edinburgh Fringe
1 to 23 August 2025
