Joe Slesser's War

West London Trade Union Club,
London W3

4 Stars

On October 4 1936, 100,000 people converged on the working-class back streets of London's East End to block Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists marching provocatively through the largely Jewish area.

Violence erupted as Jews, Irish labourers, communists and bystanders clashed with marchers, police and horses. Thus began The Battle of Cable Street which forms the background and catalyst of this play.

John Courtney O'Connor has fashioned an enthralling drama centring on one man's journey from political indifference to full-on engagement.

Adapted from Frank Griffin's novel October Day, its protagonist is Joe Slesser, an unemployed labourer with jaundiced views of socialists and who views unions as pointless money-grabbers.

His laid-back insouciance is perfectly conveyed by Mark Shaer as he drifts aimlessly around town bumping into more committed people who try to persuade him to get switched on politically.

Then, in a cafe, he gets jeered at by racist thugs who call him "yid" because of his dark looks. But, as he tells a friend, "Just because you're dark doesn't make you Jewish - look at Cary Grant."

As Mosley's march engulfs the East End, Joe gets caught up in the running battle. In a gruelling scene a group of blackshirts jump him and nearly kick him to death.

This brush with mortality proves in the end to be the making of Joe as, bruised and bleeding, he reveals to his wife (Deborah Peck) that he's sure his uncle was Jewish. Because of his ordeal he's now set to join in anything socialist out there.

The play ends almost in mid-sentence and I was left wanting more, a coda that shows or tells what happened next.

Even so, it's an absorbing one-man journey and writer-director Jack O'Connor's production for Acton Community Theatre is wise to concentrate on a sole individual - even though there must have been dozens, if not hundreds, like him.

Runs until December 6. Box office: (020) 8992-4557.

Michael Stewart