Blackeyed Theatre is marking Armed Forces Day by streaming its acclaimed production of Not About Heroes on 25 June, and making it freely available for schools for the week.
The play by Stephen MacDonald was filmed in 2014. It charts the friendship between Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, the First World War poets who first met in 1917, using extracts from diaries, letters and poems.
James Howard, whose credits include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Brave New World, plays Siegfried Sassoon. Ben Ashton plays Wilfred Owen; his credits include Romeo & Juliet, The Miser and King Lear. Eliot Giuralarocca directs this production which features original music composed by Tom Neill.
Blackeyed Theatre artistic director Adrian McDougall said, “looking back on our 16 years of touring, Not About Heroes remains one of my highlights, a production that took a wonderful script and created a unique, visually-stunning and beautifully performed piece of theatre. It’s a performance that deserves to be seen and, as we emerge from the pandemic, a piece that will I’m sure chime with audiences.”
Not About Heroes can be watched at home for 24 hours from 8PM on 25 June on Blackeyed Theatre’s YouTube channel; schools should e-mail to receive log in information.