Aluna Theatre

Postcard II – playing a soldier

Posted on 01 November 2009

When I was in Colombia I met a former child soldier who had fought for the FARC from the age of 11. Over four years he witnessed and took part in atrocities that I cannot put into words, experiences that I have read about in the newspaper or watched in war movies. Experiences that I cannot understand.

However, I have been given a task, a role. Play a child soldier in Aluna’s upcoming play La Communion. No small feat I thought, but doable; I am a trained actor after all. I can play someone ruthless and tough and cold hearted. But my director and producer are smart. They brought me Colombia to meet some of these kids. I was glad to go, thought it would be an adventure – how naive of me. I didn’t see the gift they were giving me and my character until I was there, until I was face to face with kids no older than my baby brother who have lived horrors that no man woman or child should ever be subjected to.

Now here are the questions: what did I learn? What is a child soldier? Who are these kids?

This is my answer: They are my friends. They are smart and funny. They are quiet and inquisitive and most importantly they are full of love.

Now I know what you are thinking: Zarrin! These kids have murdered! They must be stupid monsters!

No, if I learned anything on this trip, I learned that they are just like you and I but they were forced into something that robbed them of their humanity for a time. They did not join because they were stupid or cruel, they simply had no choices. So yes they have recovering to do and experiences that will never leave them. But they are full of love and humanity.

So this is now my goal: to play Pantera, a smart young girl who is full of love and joy, but a young girl who had no choice but to survive. And to survive she had to become a soldier, and in becoming a soldier she had to…

I am not just playing a fictional person on paper, I am telling their story. I am telling my Colombian friends’ stories. And I have a responsibility to do it right. And for them I will do my best and I will do it with love.

I’ll see you at La Communion

Zarrin Darnell-Martin