If you think you had a bad day at work...
Thought it was about time I posted something about the Bravo 22 company
who just performed 'The two worlds of Charlie F' at my theatre last Sunday.
Its been quite an amazing experience, even if its meant none of us got any sleep for the last week!
There is a bit of video on the BBC website here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16661169
Which includes a shot of me programming the lighting (and not yawning, which I was doing most of the week as it was all morning starts!)
The company is formed of ex-servicemen who have all been injured in Afganistan,
the play is about those stories, with the proceeds going to charity.
Regardless of your thoughts on war, of the right of going into Afganistan or Iraq,
it was eye opening to talk to these soldiers who have been through it.
They are not the generals or politicians, but the ordinary people who wanted to serve their country and you'd have to be pretty cold not to be a little moved talking to them.
I didn't meet any who claimed it was unfair, they all accepted this sort of injury was a potential part of the job.
But no one else has to deal with losing a leg, or two, or their best friend when their work day goes a bit pear shaped.
They all worked very hard on the show and the leads proved to be very talented.
This was especially impressive as not only was mobility an issue for some of them, the powerful medication they were on (mostly for pain) made many of them foggy and tired.
While they were telling their own stories, plenty of people can't manage to be that natural on a stage.
It was somewhat odd to see that much truth on a stage too.
I'm used to theatre being all lies and illusion (not nessecerily in a bad way though).
When the lead actor compared amputated legs with a collegue a part of me thought 'nice make-up' and then remembered there wasn't any.
We performed the play twice on sunday, and it got a standing ovation for both.
For the second show we had to bring the guys back for another curtain call as the audience wouldn't sit down.
Well deserved.
who just performed 'The two worlds of Charlie F' at my theatre last Sunday.
Its been quite an amazing experience, even if its meant none of us got any sleep for the last week!
There is a bit of video on the BBC website here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16661169
Which includes a shot of me programming the lighting (and not yawning, which I was doing most of the week as it was all morning starts!)
The company is formed of ex-servicemen who have all been injured in Afganistan,
the play is about those stories, with the proceeds going to charity.
Regardless of your thoughts on war, of the right of going into Afganistan or Iraq,
it was eye opening to talk to these soldiers who have been through it.
They are not the generals or politicians, but the ordinary people who wanted to serve their country and you'd have to be pretty cold not to be a little moved talking to them.
I didn't meet any who claimed it was unfair, they all accepted this sort of injury was a potential part of the job.
But no one else has to deal with losing a leg, or two, or their best friend when their work day goes a bit pear shaped.
They all worked very hard on the show and the leads proved to be very talented.
This was especially impressive as not only was mobility an issue for some of them, the powerful medication they were on (mostly for pain) made many of them foggy and tired.
While they were telling their own stories, plenty of people can't manage to be that natural on a stage.
It was somewhat odd to see that much truth on a stage too.
I'm used to theatre being all lies and illusion (not nessecerily in a bad way though).
When the lead actor compared amputated legs with a collegue a part of me thought 'nice make-up' and then remembered there wasn't any.
We performed the play twice on sunday, and it got a standing ovation for both.
For the second show we had to bring the guys back for another curtain call as the audience wouldn't sit down.
Well deserved.