Falklands War vet passes up acting role for Le Rondin work
A FALKLANDS War veteran has decided to pass up a last opportunity to perform in a play about the conflict, in order to prioritise his work at Le Rondin School & Centre.
Lou Armour has taken part in more than 170 performances of the production, called Minefield, along with two other British forces veterans and three from Argentina.
The play, directed by Argentinian theatre and film director and actor Lola Arias, has been devised around the conflict experiences of each of the six actors and has been seen in 35 cities across 18 countries to sell-out audiences of up to 800, including at the Royal Court Theatre in London.
However, as the final six-week run has begun in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires, Mr Armour has opted to be replaced by a veteran of the Afghanistan conflict, who will play him for the final few shows.
The special educational needs teacher, who has taught older children at schools around the UK, said his decision disappointed the director and the cast but he had made the right choice for him.
‘I’ve been back to Buenos Aires three times for previous runs of the show,’ he said, ‘but this time I decided I had to be realistic. If I was at any other school, I would have said “yes” but now I have this full-time, five-year post at Le Rondin, the answer had to be “no”.’
Mr Armour’s involvement in the project began in 2015, when a journalist forwarded his name to Ms Arias, who was visiting London to hear accounts of the conflict and audition potential performers.
‘I hadn’t done any acting before and I’m sure there were better actors than me that could have been invited to take part but I was lucky, I suppose, that I had the unusual story of having been there at the beginning and at the end,’ he said.
Mr Armour happened to be a member of the small Royal Marines garrison which was stationed in the Falklands on 2 April, 1982 when it was suddenly attacked by Argentinian forces. He was taken prisoner and then flown via Uruguay back to the UK, where he volunteered to return as part of the task force that was sent to retake the islands. He was among those who retook Stanley at the end of the conflict on 14 June and thus found himself standing in the gardens of Government House, where he had been captured 74 days earlier.
‘I’ve never taken part in any anniversaries or commemorations or been back to the islands themselves,’ he said. ‘I left all that behind me and threw myself into my studies. I’ve always been wary of anything that might be, or might be seen to be, jingoistic. But through this play I’ve met and worked with Argentinian veterans and inevitably, we’ve seen and we’ve demonstrated that we have far more in common than what sets us apart.’
Interview page 16 The Weekend
