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‘Here Are The Young Men’ was written for the
Lyceum Youth Theatre. The play explores the
horrors of the First World War through both the
eyes of the young soldiers engaged in the
conflict and their loved ones at home.
The
text is almost entirely derived from real
accounts of men of many different nationalities
who fought in the conflict and the letters they
sent home. These accounts that make up the
majority of the text in the play appear almost
entirely as verbatim. The actors speak the words
of men who served and died during the Great War
of 1914-1918. A war that saw the taking of human
life on a scale never before seen in previous
conflicts - 10 million soldiers were killed and
20 million were wounded.
As
well as the quotes of service men, the play also
contains new text, poetry by A.E. Housman,
Lesley Coulson, Robert Greaves, Maurice Baring,
W.N. Hodgson, Patrick MacGill, John McCrae,
Laurence Binyon, Edward Shillito; and Joy
Division lyrics by Ian Curtis.
The script is simply divided between ‘chorus’
and ‘’soldier’ allowing the director to allocate
text as suits: their interpretation, choice in
staging and style of performance, and the size
of the cast.
In
the original production the chorus were all
female and the male actors portrayed the
soldiers. The chorus represent the relatives,
lovers and friends of the serving men; as well
as describing through accounts, letters and
poetry the experiences of the young men serving
on the front.
The
play does not touch on the politics nor the
exact historical details of the conflict and
references of nationality have been omitted from
the quotations. Instead the play provides an
unrelenting and uncompromising description of
war and its effect on those who endured its
horrors both from the front and at home. |
