Youth Arts Leicestershire - Michael Morpurgo – Private Peaceful
Young people from Leicestershire have been performing with Youth Arts at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the past 15 years. Youth Arts Leicestershire is an independent charitable organisation formed in 1993 which works to sustain quality participatory performing arts activities for young people aged 5 – 25 years.
http://www.yal.org.uk
As he waits for the dawn, Private Peaceful’s life plays itself out before his eyes. From that young life he learns that there was and is something to hold onto in spite of the mud, the gunfire, the cries of men and the injustice of lies.
Performances:
11th to 16th August, 20:15 to 21:15; 18th to 23rd August, 14:30 to 15:30
Price: £7.00 (£5.00)
Book tickets on the Fringe website
QFP 23.11
We are not for names, nor men, nor titles of Government, nor are we for this party nor against the other ... but we are for justice and mercy and truth and peace and true freedom, that these may be exalted in our nation, and that goodness, righteousness, meekness, temperance, peace and unity with God, and with one another, that these things may abound.
Edward Burrough, 1659
Well worth seeing,
One comes to productions about the “Great War” between 1914 and 1918 with ideas about what to expect: Naïve and gentle young men (who have only recently learned to shave) foolish for war, willing to lie about their age, and caught up in a class system which is unyielding and harsh. Given the amount that has been written and said about “the war to end all wars” the ability of writers and actors to persuade us jaded cynics is vital. So many of us seem to take a level of brutality almost for granted these days, and in the midst of current wars fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, the khaki uniform of yesteryear is in danger of becoming a cliché.
Perspectives and opinions of young people matter a great deal in questions of war and peace. Their views are usually fresher, more open and more honest. The book by Morpurgo from which this play is taken, is written for young adults, the stage adaptation portraying well the bravery of youth in confronting the hard prejudices of “adult” society. Certainly young people were in the majority in the audience this evening.
The acting was excellent throughout, precise and original, with minimal use of props (convincing in their brown-and-white shabbiness) and a well worn brown waistcoat to provide narrative underlay. The actors were credible and touching, not only because of their obvious youth but because they kept their vision for a better tomorrow intact in the trenches.
If there is one thing that does not work in the production, it is the constant use of one small scrap of bland music to fit the scenes together when silence might, especially in the later scenes, be a safer option. In addition, the story would, I think, have felt less hurried and more moving with varied pacing between the later scenes to allow the audience to grapple more deeply with the heartfelt sentiments of the play.
Thank you to YAL for having the courage to mount such a complex story and bring it to life so well. Well worth seeing.
AF