The New Zealand play Lullaby Jock: Silent Generations, a collection of true stories and fantastic tales as told by Jock Ferry and many others affected by World War Two has been staged in Kampala. 

The one-man play, performed by the playwright Simon Ferry, is based on the story of his father, Jock Ferry’s return from World War II. Like so many men of his generation, Jock battled to contain haunting memories from the war and deal with the fallout of coming home from their “brave journey.”

The soldiers who returned home continued fighting silently in their minds and hearts — some resorted to alcohol to suppress the war memories. Lullaby Jock: Silent Generations is a life, lived by the father and told by the son in a personal solo piece.

The popular and critically acclaimed one-man show directed by Jason Schmidt and performed at the National Theatre from March 13-14, is regarded as a performance of social and cultural history that is applicable to individuals, families and communities affected by military service.

Simon Ferry, who plays his father Jock, is the head of the arts department at the International School of Uganda.

The play is based on Jock’s life after he returned from the war and became a teacher. It is about laughter, music, pain and desperation.

Jock was a rogue, playing practical jokes, stealing pianos and motorbikes, singing opera to Italians and telling stories, riding motorbikes down the street and drinking to quell the voices inside his head.

Co-produced by Bronwyn Ferry and Hannah White, the play is a portrait of a man, a family, perhaps a generation. It is a documentary about nobody special, except to those who knew him; but has a fascination for everyone.

The play opens with Jock’s funeral. Lying in his coffin, he laughs at the stories being told about him, “A load of codswallop, they get that from me…”

Jock found Italy and North Africa the most boring places to be until he got to the front line. Then all hell broke loose and he stomped through the mud and blood of enemy and friend alike, singing and hoping, praying and dying every day.

When he went to war, he didn’t know what he was in for and the truth of war was a revelation. The dead Frenchman whose hand all soldiers would shake for laughs, the mad surgeon hacking off legs, the Italian woman shot dead. The faces never went away, the noise never stopped, but the drink helped keep the horror deep inside.

Jock was a storyteller, a singer, a family man, a teacher and a friend. He was the life of the party and the joker who kept everybody upbeat and happy. He was the man to sing the songs and tell the jokes and tease the ladies and ridicule the blokes.

He raised a family of nine in Pahiatua and he affected many people in his life. But, like every other man, he had secrets too. Secrets that he wouldn’t share. Secrets that tormented his happy soul.

Generations go to war and return forever changed. This is a story of how it changed one man, one generation.

War continues to affect everyone in the world and every generation born unto it.

Schmidt says Lullaby Jock: Silent Generations should be appreciated for its acting, its originality and its subject material. “Writing and acting in a one-man show is a brave venture for an artist to undertake.” Revealing the devastating effects of alcoholism and war and the demise of family members, is dangerous.

“Simon’s stage is nearly bare, save for the hundreds of bottles of beer on the wall and the garden variety everyday use coffin. Yet, the tone of this piece is intimate and personal, devastating and uplifting,” Schmidt adds.

Ferry interviewed his father, family, community, friends and war veterans to write this story. It is a great piece of cultural history, a history of friendship, family and the effects of warfare.  

The radio version of the play won the top prize in the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union competition in 2013.