OUR FIRST SHOW.



NOT ABOUT HEROES is a First World War drama, written by Stephen MacDonald about the friendship between two poets - Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen.

Told by means of letters and poetry, MacDonald’s moving and powerful play paints a vivid picture of the First World War.


During their training at LIPA, actors Duncan Riches and Stephen Smith worked on a scene from MacDonald's play and with Matthew Bromwich as director, they soon decided to stage a full production of NOT ABOUT HEROES to commemorate Remembrance Day 2015.





"This young company from LIPA are clearly committed to good storytelling."



- Petra Schofield, THEATRE BATH



REMEMBRANCE DAY 2015



All three of us studied acting at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), and in the Atrium of LIPA, there is a World War memorial displayed on one of the walls. We decided that this would be the perfect place to stage NOT ABOUT HEROES.


For one night only, NOT ABOUT HEROES was presented to a full house and a standing ovation. We didn't charge any money but decided to ask for donations for the Royal British Legion - a charity that deals with many of the issues raised in MacDonald's play, like post traumatic stress disorder.


After its fantastic reception, we decided to take NOTABOUT HEROES on a UK tour in the summer of 2016, this time to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.



CAST & CREATIVES


DUNCAN RICHES as Siegfried Sassoon

STEPHEN SMITH as Wilfred Owen


Directed by MATTHEW BROMWICH



PRODUCTION PHOTOS
BY ISABELLA RUBIN





2016
Somme 100 Tour



OUR FIRST TOUR





NOT ABOUT HEROES toured to Rickmansworth, Bath and Liverpool:


16th July 2016

All Saints Church, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth


18th / 19th / 20th July 2016

The Mission Theatre, Bath


23rd / 24th July 2016

The Lantern Theatre, Liverpool



VIDEO GALLERY



OUR CROWDFUNDING VIDEO



OUR TOUR TRAILER



OUR TEAM





Joining our NOT ABOUT HEROES UK TOUR team as our wonderful Tour Assistant was our very good friend and fellow LIPA actor, Jennifer Woods.


Also pictured (from left to right), company directors Duncan Riches, Matthew Bromwich and Stephen Smith.



Somme 100 Tour
PICTURE GALLERY



JUNe 2016



Rehearsals



LIPA very kindly let us use their rehearsal spaces to create our production. They also allowed us to tour with their costumes and props.



JUNE 2016



Research



As we did with our Remembrance Day show at LIPA, we wanted to collect donations for the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal. Matthew and Stephen visited the Poppy Factory in Richmond, where every poppy is made, all-year round.



JUNE 2016



Marketing



We wanted to create a strong trailer for our tour and collaborated with Arron West, a freelance filmmaker from Hertfordshire, who was able to create a stunning video to use when promoting the tour.



JUNE 2016



Theatre in Education



In the lead-up to our tour, we visited Rickmansworth School for their 2016 Enrichment Day, where we hosted a whole day of drama workshops with the Year 7s.


find out more

JULY 2016



Charity



This is an example of the collection tables we had at each venue for the Royal British Legion, where volunteers with collection buckets and merchandise managed to collect hundreds of pounds throughout our tour.



JULY 2016



Opening Night



Photographed by our tour assistant, Jennifer Woods, this shot was captured during our dress rehearsal before opening at the All Saints Church in Rickmansworth.



JULY 2016



Opening Night



Another production photo by our tour assistant, Jennifer Woods, this shot was captured during our dress rehearsal before opening at the All Saints Church in Rickmansworth.



JULY 2016



Toasting and Tech-ing



Out of costume, Stephen and Duncan toast some imaginary drinks to their opening night at the Mission Theatre in Bath.



JUNE 2016



We Will Remember Them



As well as collecting money donations for the Royal British Legion, our production of NOT ABOUT HEROES at the All Saints Church also acted as a fundraiser for the renovation of their war memorial, pictured above in June. Their new Memorial Doors were unveiled in 2018 to commemorate the centenary of the Armistice.





Royal British Legion Certificate



We are very proud to say that the entire NOT ABOUT HEROES tour raised £341.33 for the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal.





THE LAST POST...





During that same summer of our Somme 100 UK Tour, Stephen and Duncan were performing in another play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, August 2016. During their time at the Fringe, they did a bit of sightseeing.


This is a photograph of them outside what used to be the Craiglockhart War Hospital, where Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen became friends, 100 years before.


A truly magical experience and a perfect way to round off our time working on such a wonderful play.






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