Jul 1, 2021
How does the First World War appear on the stage?
This month Angus, Chris and Jessica speak to the theatre
historian Helen Brooks about her work on the
Great War Theatre project. Along the way, we discuss
the importance of sex to the rules of censorship, consider the role
of theatre in bridging the past and the present and find out which
play threatens to give Chris nightmares.
References:
Helen Brooks, "Remembering
the War on the British Stage: From Resistance to
Reconstruction", in Revival After the Great War: Rebuild,
Remember, Repair, Reform (Leuven: Leuven University
Press, 2020) 165-178
Helen Brooks, "‘Are
there any more recruits?’ - British theatre and the recruitment
drive, 1914–1915," First World War
Studies 10, no 2-3 (2020): 207-224
Gott Straf England
Dorothy Mullard, In the Hands of the Hun
In Time of War
The Era
The Stage
Bruce Bairnsfather and Arthur Elliot, A Better 'Ole
(1917)
R.C. Sherriff, Journey's End (1928)
Grand Guignol
A Gas Attack
J.M. Barrie
Arthur Wing Pinero
The Battle of the Somme (1916)
Oh! What a Lovely War (1963)
Nick Whitby, To the Green Fields Beyond (2000)
Nick Stafford, War Horse (2007)
Michael Morpurgo, War Horse (1982)
The Greatest Showman (2017)
Michael Morpurgo, Private Peaceful (2003)