Here is the link to the 6 chapters of my new ‘lockdown movie version’ of THIS EVIL THING, which premiered on Youtube on Friday 15th May 2020.
A trailer for this lockdown version of THIS EVIL THING:
A second glimpse of this lockdown offering…
And another trailer for it…
About the play :
Following its acclaimed run on the Edinburgh Fringe in 2016, THIS EVIL THING has now toured to all corners of the UK and to parts of the eastern USA (in early 2018).
The play has been performed by myself over 100 times now…(Phew! Well, it’s kept me slim!)
There are no current touring dates for 2020 as I focus my attention on my new project, a play about Hiroshima and the dropping of the first atomic bomb…
see more here
BUT – NEWS NEWS NEWS – during the coronavirus lockdown these last few weeks, I have made a lockdown home movie version of THIS EVIL THING in 6 chapters (about 12-15 minutes each in length…) using my i-phone and its special features. The play and its story comes across as powerfully as ever I feel – and in some respects with greater intimacy and intensity – and I have enjoyed exploring various corners of my flat in SW London to create different atmospheres and locations. And for those that have seen the play onstage – yes – I do use some of my wooden crates at times!
I made these 6 chapters available online from International Conscientious Objectors’ Day, on Friday May 15th 2020. Link at the top of this page…
For any up-and-coming theatre dates for THIS EVIL THING in the future, check here. Or use the Contact tab to join the mailing list.
The playscript of THIS EVIL THING is now available! Published by 49Knights, it consists of the full script and description of staging with a foreword by the director, introduction by the author(ahem)and six atmospheric illustrations by Carys Boughton.
The script is available for £10 inc p and p. Order your copy via the Contact tab.
“WELL-KNOWN actor and playwright Michael Mears brings his one-man play, This Evil Thing, about conscientious objectors in the First World War to Stratford’s Kempe Studio this Sunday. The play marks 100 years since conscription was bought in in 1916, here Michael tells Herald arts about the play and his inspiration for writing it.” The Stratford upon Avon Herald .interview 12th January 2017.
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‘For God’s sake! This protest of yours – is it really worth losing your lives over?’
January 1916: Bert Brocklesby is a young schoolteacher, and preacher at his local Methodist church; Bertrand Russell is one of the greatest mathematicians of his time. With the advent of military conscription their worlds are about to be turned upside down.
THIS EVIL THING is the compelling, shocking and inspiring story of the men who said no to war; a rarely told story involving a dizzying journey from a chapel in Yorkshire to the House of Commons; from an English country garden to a quarry in Aberdeen; from a cell in Richmond Castle to a firing squad in France.
‘18? You’re too young to have a conscience!’
With military conscription still in force in many countries today, and prisoners of conscience still languishing in jails, the questions posed by THIS EVIL THING are as relevant and urgent as they were one hundred years ago.
Michael Mears – ‘The Fringe-First Award winning master of the one-man show’ The List (on Soup) –portrays a gallery of characters from conscientious objectors to army generals, from Prime Ministers to world-famous mathematicians, with breath-taking physical and vocal dexterity. This highly original piece of storytelling uses verbatim testimonies, a multi-layered sound landscape and vivid visual imagery.
Rosamunde Hutt recently directed the critically acclaimed LOVE, BOMBS AND APPLES (Turtle Key Arts/AIK Productions) at the Arcola Theatre, London and on a UK tour.
Michael Mears 