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This brilliant musical, set during the Napoleonic Wars, is the story of two brothers, French Prisoners of War, separated when very young at their mother’s execution at the Bastille, their capture, imprisonment and parole. Needless to say, there’s also a love story, several evil villains, cider drinking and a real guillotine thrown in for good measure. Performed in the Black Theatre, Burgess Hall St. Ives in July 2007. |
Rehearsals
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On board HMS Victory, the cast were able to handle the actual weapons used in the early 19th century and rehearse the battle scene that will be recreated in the musical. BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s Arts programme, The Eclectic Light Show, interviewed the cast and broadcast songs recorded while the cast were on board HMS Victory. SIYT then travelled down to Devon to better understand the conditions in which the French Prisoners of War lived during captivity. Initially, the prisoners were left to starve on rat-infested, unseaworthy ships in Plymouth Harbour, but were then moved to the then newly built Dartmoor prison. When the prisoners were set free in 1815, there were 5,000 French servicemen imprisoned at Dartmoor, but thousands more had died and been buried in an unmarked mass grave. At the end of the visit, the cast laid white carnations on the mass grave and held a short service to remember not only the French Prisoners of War but all those who find that their freedom has been taken from them. This was only the second memorial held at the cemetery in living memory. |
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Performance
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Nick Stimson - Nick is a playwright and theatre director. He is an Associate Director at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth and an Honorary Fellow of Exeter University. He has also written and directed for radio and television. Among musicals written with the composer Chris Williams are: Brother Jacques, Wistman’s Drum, Stand Up Noah Small, Stay Tuned, Monkey, The Hot Rock, Starchild, Korczak, The Lost Domain and Unforgotten. Other plays include That Certain Night, The Seven Deadly Sins, Tristan and Isolde, The Last Dance, Union Street & Matthew Miller (the last two both with Nick Discombe), All Change (with Ian MacMillan and Howard Moody), NHS The Musical (with Jimmy Jewell), Borderline (radio), and for TV Sumo. Nick’s plays have been produced in Britain and abroad and he has won several major awards including, most recently, The Vivian Ellis Prize for the Best Musical for Young People (Starchild). He has also written three collections of poetry: In Magnet Air (Phoenix Press), Histories (Priapus Press) and Flying Pigs (Enitharmon). He is currently writing the new full-scale version of Frankenstein for YMTUK and Who Ate All The Pies?, a musical about football, both with that talented young composer Jimmy Jewell. A devoted supporter of Crystal Palace FC, he is alos a passionate believer in miracles. Chris Williams - Chris began his musical career at the age of eight as a chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. Having won a scholarship to study Music at New College, Oxford, he went on to study postgraduate composition and piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he won several prestigious prizes, including the Royal Philharmonic Prize for composition. He is at present living in India where he has written and produced a musical play, “The Coolie’s Tale”, to celebrate the centenary of the Kalka-Shimla Railway. He has written and was Musical Director of an Indian version of “Stand Up, Noah Small!”, performed by children from 19 schools in Bangalore. He has just completed a commission, “Stage Songs”, for the Schools’ Prom in Royal Albert Hall. Meanwhile, he helped found The Young Company and The People’s Company for the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, UK, for whom he composed and directed many musical plays, of which “Brother Jacques”, “Monkey”, “StarChild” and ”Korczak” have won major awards. He has also been to Switzerland, The Czech Republic and Poland, working with young people to present musical plays and run workshops. |
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| Related Web Sites, Articles and Media Links | |
| Auditions for Brad Pitt of 2040 - Hunts Post - 06 June 2007 | |
| Hunt for talented trio – St. Ives Town Crier - 31 May 2007 | |
| Curtain Call for Brothers as younger boys - St. Ives Weekly News - 31 May 2007 | |
