My Boy Jack

The tragic story of how Rudyard Kipling sent his son to his death in the First World War.

The year is 1913 and war with Germany is imminent. Rudyard Kipling's determination to send his severely short sighted son to war triggers a bitter family conflict which leaves Britain's renowned patriot devastated by the warring of his own greatest passions: his love for children above all his own and his devotion to King and Country.

David Haig's play My Boy Jack was first staged at Hampstead Theatre in 1997. It was revived at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, in 2004, and toured the UK. The play was filmed for television in 2007, with Daniel Radcliffe as Jack and the author himself as Kipling.

'Dramatises Kipling's story beautifully. The family confrontations bristle with life'

Financial Times