Dark Laughter in Uniform: Humor and Militarism in Gregory Burke’s Black Watch

Abstract

Gregory Burke’s Black Watch, which premiered at the 2006 Edinburgh International Festival, focuses on the experiences of Scottish soldiers deployed to Iraq in 2003. The play makes extensive use of dark humor by juxtaposing laughter and pain, valor and absurdity, military and civilian life, in order to reveal the contradictions of contemporary militarism. Rather than celebrating patriotism or sacrifice, Burke undermines the romanticized narratives of heroism through profanity, abrupt shifts in tone, and mock-heroic scenes. Dark humor, thus, functions as both a coping strategy for soldiers’ trauma and a satirical device that subverts political rhetoric about the war. By situating Scotland’s Black Watch regiment through humor within this framework, Burke reconfigures war not as a story of noble call but as a site of absurd exploitation of soldiers. The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate how Black Watch employs dark humor as a literary tool that destabilizes political rhetoric, heroic myths, and nationalist sentiment.