Category Archives: This Evil Thing

Conscientious objectors still in prison in 1919

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Simon Richardson photographer

Six months after the end of the First World War, British C.O.s were still in prison – but some began to be released in April 1919. One hundred years later a number of performances of THIS EVIL THING will take place to mark this.

This will include one in London on March 20th and two on Easter Sunday in Bristol. Organised by the group Remembering The Real World War 1 these Bristol performances will take place in the atmospheric crypt of the medieval church, St. John On The Wall. See the performance diary for more details…

52 characters – all with a sore throat (highlights from my whirlwind tour of the UK – November 2018)

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Sunday 4th November.
Performing smack-bang in the centre of London – at the charming off-West End venue Jermyn Street Theatre, a stone’s throw from Piccadilly Circus. Amazingly, not only do I manage to park the van nearby but being a Sunday I have found a free slot. Free parking? In central London?
For eight hours? Result!

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An offering of ginger biscuits from a WW1 CO – ( well, his daughter-in-law to be precise)

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Nov 6th 2018

I’m on the road again and this time I’ve been given a brand new red Citroen van by the hire company, which unlike my previous vans has central locking (rather useful when loading and unloading crates and all my other paraphernalia.)

Three Quaker Meeting Houses in the north of England are my destination in the first week of this significant November 2018 tour, but it’s rain and tedious first gear traffic all the way up the M6 to arrive a tad wearily at Kendal in Cumbria for the first performance.

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From Washington to Wickenby

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The moment I leave the inevitable Friday afternoon crawl in 1st gear up most of the M1, and head east on the A46, I feel myself breathe more easily.  The roads are still busy but at least I can get up into 2nd and even, at times, 3rd gear.  But then, as I reach the A158 beyond Lincoln I start to feel positively light-hearted.  When I turn off this road, however, onto the B1399 and find myself in country lanes winding through verdant fields bathed in glorious early evening sunshine, a wave of calm seems to flood my whole being.    Continue reading →

To Walk or Not to Walk…

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July 12th 2018

It’s all very well putting on your website that in a year or two’s time you plan, all things being well, to walk the whole of the Western Front, all 475 plus miles of it, as part of your ‘peace initiative’ – and to tie in with the end of the ‘100 years since the First World War’ commemorations.

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Couch potatoes – and a glass of Guinness

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All shook up…

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Should I stop the play?’ I ask myself.

A small child is crying right down near the front, and as the characters in the play get ever more impassioned, so the child is getting ever more upset.

Did the message not get through? I suggested to all venues that the play with its serious and strong themes is really only suitable for 14 and upwards. I saw the father bringing the child in at the start, along with its not much older siblings and thought, oh dear, this could be tricky.

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The consolations of dessert

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She’s 90 years old, does yoga, is in fine fettle and is as bright as a button – and she’s travelled over three hours from Wisconsin with her daughter to see my play.

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That’s the biggest journey made to see it by anyone on this US tour that I’m aware of.

She’s also the mother of my host Ellen, I should point out. But still… three hours drive from Wisconsin.

Ellen, teaching peace studies and conflict resolution (as well as a course in human rights and social justice) has clearly given me a big build up. Hope I can live up to it.

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Westward Ho!

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Buffalo History Museum is housed inside a beautiful building. I am due to perform at 2pm in their intimate 150 seat auditorium.

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The Quakers are hosting the event and after the performance Rodney Pierce, a Korean War CO, and Nadine Hoover of the Conscience Studio and New York Quakers, join us for the Q and A.

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Looking out for the woolly mammoth

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Six weeks ago I was performing at the London Catholic Worker’s church in Haringey, close to my childhood home in north London. 4,000 miles from there, I am now about to perform at the Catholic Worker of Michiana’s premises in South Bend, Indiana.

Our Lady of the Road is the name of their building, which consists of a dining hall, kitchen, laundry machines and showers, and a new chapel.

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