Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre and Nottingham Playhouse have got together to stage the UK première of Peter Arnott’s World War II musical drama Propaganda Swing.
Directed by the Belgrade’s artistic director Hamish Glen, Propaganda Swing is a “captivating combination of WWII intrigue and drama set against a backdrop of glitz, glamour and big-band swagger”.
Throwing a spotlight on the true story of a band known as Charly and his Orchestra, the play reveals how some of the greatest German jazz musicians of the day entered into a Faustian pact with the Fascists to continue playing their music at the price of seeing it corrupted for evil.
Peter Arnott said, “I first came across the story of Charly and his Orchestra when I was book-reviewing for a newspaper in Glasgow and I remember thinking that this was one of the most incredible stories I’d ever heard.
“The play takes place in the early days of WWII when Lord Haw Haw was broadcasting from Germany to Britain. It centres on a real-life Nazi jazz band who broadcast re-worked versions of popular jazz standards complete with viciously anti-Semitic lyrics.
“The Nazis loathed jazz and yet they knew how to harness its power as a form of light entertainment. It was the paradox that struck me as incredible and I knew that within that paradox lay the origins of a fascinating human drama.”
Propaganda Swing features Chris Andrew Mellon in the role of Otto Stenzl. He appeared in the Belgrade’s 2014 Spanish Golden Age Season produced in association with the Theatre Royal Bath and Arcola Theatre London.
He will be joined by Clara Darcy whose previous theatre credits include the 2014 UK tour of Brassed Off and the Belgrade Theatre production of We Love You City in 2010.
Completing the cast are Callum Coates as William Joyce/Lord Haw Haw, Miranda Wilford as Lala Anderson, Paul Lincoln as Heinrich Hinkel, Tomm Coles as Lutz Templin, Bradley Clarkson as Bill Constant and Jonny Bower as Charly Schwedler.
Design is by Libby Watson, lighting design is by Mike Robertson and musical supervisor is Hilary Brooks.
Propaganda Swing will run on the Belgrade’s main stage from Saturday 13 until Saturday 27 September. It will transfer to Nottingham Playhouse from Friday 2 October until Saturday 18 October.