Peter James: Novelist and Film Producer: Rupert Brooke Play

Peter's blog

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Rupert Brooke Play

Last year some of you may remember I sponsored a CD of the wonderful war poems of Rupert Brooke, read by Andrew Motion and many others, which had touched and inspired me as a young writer. (See my earlier Rupert Brooke post).

The team behind this, The Useful Donkey Theatre Company, is headed by one of the UK's most promising young poets, Antony Dunn. A few years ago Antony won Oxford's highly prestigious Newdigate Prize for Verse - a prize which many years ago was won by my hero Oscar Wilde. (Antony has just had his latest collection of poems, Bugs, published by Carcarnet - do buy it, it is a gem!)

This same theatre company has now produced a one-man play, written by Mark Payton, entitled Rupert Brooke and it is about to go on tour - the dates and venues are below.

The play is the story of the Brooke beyond the myth of a young, beautiful, fallen warrior. It is the story of a far more complex and radical man. Following the legendary 'war' poet from his time at Cambridge to his death in the Aegean Sea, Rupert Brooke reveals a man with a tumultuous personal life, a man not afraid to shock his audience, and a man vulnerably reaching to be 'forever England'.

Saturday 26th September, 7.45pm
Macready Theatre, Rugby
01954 210 176 (Rupert Brooke Society)
01788 534 970 (Rugby Tourist Info - £1.50 booking fee)

Friday 2nd October, 8.00pm
The Cut, Halesworth, Suffolk
www.newcut.org
Box Office: 0845 673 2123

Monday 5th October, 7.30pm
Mumford Theatre, Cambridge
www.anglia.ac.uk/mumfordtheatre
Box Office: 0845 196 2320

Sunday 25th October, 7.45pm
Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury
www.kent.ac.uk/gulbenkian
Box Office: 01227 769 075

Thursday 29th October, 7.00pm
Friday 30th October, 7.00pm
The Carriageworks, Leeds
www.carriageworkstheatre.org.uk
Box Office: 0113 224 3801

Sunday 8th November, 3.00pm & 7.00pm
Monday 9th November, 2.30pm & 7.30pm
York Theatre Royal
www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
Box Office: 01904 623 568

Wednesday 11th November, 7.45pm
Wilde Theatre, South Hill Park, Bracknell
www.southhillpark.org.uk
Box Office: 01344 484 123

posted by Peter James at 4:14 PM 2 comments

Comments:

I went to see "Rupert Brooke" in Cambridge. Even while you watch, it is hard to remember that it is just one man on a stage. We saw Winston Churchill, Virginia Woolf, Brooke's friends, his lovers, we saw the horror of war and the delight of a green river, all just from the monologue of one man. It is imaginative, moving, inspiring and poignant. I went half-heartedly, wondering if it would be any good. I recommend it whole-heartedly. (Deborah Meyler)

By Deborah, at 8:04 PM

Hi Deborah - thanks so much for this post. I am really happy that you enjoyed it so much - it is a wonderful theatre company and all the things they do are usually very high quality. Also the extraordinary work if these war poets and the times they lived in is something we should all remember. All best, Peter

By Peter James, at 12:28 PM