My Boy Jack

In 1913, with war imminent, Rudyard Kipling is adamant that his son Jack must fight for King and Country. When Jack is turned down again and again owing to his severe myopia, Kipling pulls some strings and gets him into the Irish Guards. The action then switches to the trenches in France where Jack goes missing in action during the Battle of Loos. Following a lengthy search, a man is found who was with Jack on that day and who knows what happened to him. The truth is hard on all concerned, as the consequences of Kipling’s dogged determination to send his teenage son to the trenches triggers a bitter family conflict.

David Haig’s play is a moving and powerful account of the anguish at the heart of the man whose storytelling continues to delight millions of people all over the world today.