“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana)
In our own troubled times, it seems apt to look back and learn from the lessons of our forbears
ACT presents a double bill of plays exploring the theme of war and its effect on those directly and indirectly involved.
Scenes from "The Accrington Pals" by Peter Whelan
& "Picnic on a Battlefield" by Fernando Arrabal
Directed by Alan Perrin
The Accrington Pals - This absorbing play contrasts The Pals' experiences in the trenches with those of the women at home, adapting to new patterns of life and drawing together in the face of social and sexual deprivation. At times funny, at times sad, the play paints a moving and powerful picture of the changes in civilian life during wartime.
Picnic on a Battlfield - Arrabal describes his plays as 'dramatised nightmares...direct manifestations of my inner world as revealed through my dreams.... The dream is my starting point'.
Through experiencing this ‘Picnic’, we see the ultimate absurdity of war, that war erodes our morals and leads caring,compassionate citizens, who in peacetime would not harm anyone, to consent to and support the annihilation of people and property in wartime. Arrabal shows us that understanding breeds fellowship and community, fellowship and community breed reverence and respect and reverence and respect metamorphose battlefields into picnics.
