Project: Remembrance 1918 – 2018: Journey’s End
Grant: £2,800
Fund: HoB General
A stunning account of life in the trenches, this community play was a reproduction of the WWI classic Journey’s End, around the theme of remembrance.
The play is set in an officers’ dugout in the trenches on the Western Front. This was the battle line between the Allies and Germans that lay across Northern France, Belgium and down to the Swiss border. The date is March 18th 1918 and the action takes place over three days. The German spring offensive is under way and their army has significant forward momentum; a fact known to the British troops of the time.
Ubiquitous Theatre selected and trained inexperienced actors from the community to make up the personnel of ‘C Company’, with each actor being linked to an authentic soldier from the war.
The play was presented to the public on four nights, culminating in a Remembrance Sunday performance which also marked the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI.
Commenting on the project, one of the actors Julian O’Hare said:
It has been emotional, inspiring, humbling, challenging but most of all it has been fun and rewarding. I will never forget the rehearsal when I saw Tim and Rhydian do the fight scene and I thought ‘uh-oh, I’m totally out of my depth’ but you took me to one side and gave me amazing advice and the belief that I could do it. I will never forget it. For now, I am Captain Hardy.
In addition to the performances, Ubiquitous created an exhibition for World’s End Garden Centre and engaged with the local community to produce a knitted poppy cascade, each poppy representing a fallen soldier.
