blackadder programme (print) Final

Acknowledgements

The Beverley Theatre Company
gratefully acknowledges the continued financial support from

THE EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE COUNCIL

Kind assistance from the following is also greatly appreciated:

The Beverley Town Council

The Cottingham and Hessle Councils
Assure Security Services

Edward’s Shed – [email protected] – for kindly loaning props
Beverley FM
Billboard TV

EweMove for kindly selling tickets
Chemdry

Beverley St Mary’s Church Lads and Church Girls Brigade –
Glen Redhead, Lionel Burdett, Hannah Riby, Kiera Thomsen, Poppy Walker,

Richard Gregg, Natalie Hook
Beverley Chamber of Trade & Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families

Association – for kindly loaning props
Paul Jenkinson

Andrews of Beverley
Clearway Environmental Services
The Trustees of the Memorial Hall
The Beverley Tourist Information Centre
The Beverley and Cottingham Libraries
Neat Printing (tel: 01482 872 480)
and the shopkeepers of Beverley for displaying posters

Interested in getting involved in theatre?

If so, we are always recruiting for roles both on and off stage. If you would like to
know more, please call our Membership Secretary, Denise Dyble, on
07526 777 138 for an informal chat, or email us at

[email protected] with any comments on the current
production or any enquiries related to future productions and activities.
You can also visit us at www.beverleytheatrecompany.com
to keep up to date with BTC.

Scene list

Act One: Scene Seven – The Dugout Later
Scene Eight – At the Concert
Scene One – The Dugout Scene Nine – The Dugout
Scene Two – The Dugout a Few Scene Ten – At the Hospital
Scene Eleven – Melchett’s Office
Hours Later Scene Twelve – Melchett’s Office Later
Scene Three – At the Concert Scene Fourteen – At the Hospital
Scene Four – The Dugout
Scene Five – Melchett’s Office
Scene Six – The Dugout

Cast

Captain Darling Field Marshall Haig
Ben Gardiner Bill Watts

Lieutenant George Captain Blackadder Nurse Fletcher-Brown
William Drew Neville Slater Sam Kneeshaw

Act Two: Scene Eight – The Sopwith Camel
Scene Nine – Melchett’s Office
Scene One – Nurse Mary’s Room Scene Ten – M elchett’s Office
Scene Two – At the Hospital
Scene Three – Nurse Mary’s Room a Time Later
Scene Four – Melchett’s Office Scene Eleven – The Dugout
Scene Five – The Dugout Scene Twelve – Melchett’s Office
Scene Six – Melchett’s Office Scene Thirteen – The Dugout at Dawn
Scene Seven – M elchett’s Office the

Next Morning

Private S Baldrick Lord Flashheart Driver Parkhurst
Colin Walls Helen Appleton-Wild Kay Slater

Brigadier Smith General Melchett Graham the Slug
Tony Musgrave Chris Dunnachie Himself

Above: Bolsheviks in Moscow Russian Revolution

At the start of WWI, Tsar Nicholas the Second
rounded peasants and working class men to fight
in his army against Germany. They were poorly
equipped, resulting in the deaths of two million men
and the wounding of a further five million..
The peasants revolted in 1917. Due to the tremendous
upheaval occurring in Russia, the Bolshevik
Government made peace with Germany. On
July 17th 1918, Tsar Nicholas II and his family
were executed.

Political impact of World War One

The British Government was petrified Left: W omen workers in the New Gun
that the Russian Revolution would spread. Factory Woolwich
After all, the ruling class narrowly avoided
a British Revolution after the French great debate about the lowering
Revolution 115 years before. of wages paid to women doing
The Defence of the Realm Act 1914 men’s work and worry about the
introduced a lot of draconian measures, the returning workers not being paid
most famous of which being the restriction the same as they were before they
of pub opening hours and the introduction went to war.
of British Summer Time. The Act also Because a lot of men were fighting
resulted in the concentration of workers abroad for more than a year, they
in urban areas and a massive increase would have lost their right to
of women in the workforce. There was vote. The Representation of the
People Act 1918 abolished almost
all of the property qualifications
needed for most men to vote. It
also allowed women over the age
of 30 who owned some property
to vote. This led to the electorate
almost tripling in size from
7.7 million to 21.4 million.
The poor health status of
volunteers and conscripts
shocked the Generals. This
was mainly put down to poor
housing. Many soldiers lived in
poor conditions in the trenches
that were no better than the
places they lived in at home.
The government realised that
if housing conditions did not
improve, the soldiers are
likely to riot.
Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act
1919 aimed to provide ‘homes
fit for heroes’ to help prevent
a revolution and improve the
health and fitness of workers. The
government’s intention was that
500,000 homes would be built in
three years.

Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force

It is amazing to think that “flying The RFC merged with Royal Naval Air
machines” were only invented 11 years Service to form the RAF in 1918. The
before the start of WWI. Initially, the rate of attrition was horrendous, with
Royal Flying Corps used 12 balloons to nearly 10,000 crew killed and more
spot for artillery and reconnaissance than 7,000 wounded.
missions. This soon stopped as
balloons were easy prey. Planes were
first used for reconnaissance missions,
but as technology rapidly advanced,
the flying machines quickly became
more sophisticated. Not long after,
heavy bombs could be carried and
pilots soon began to shoot each other
down. Hard to believe now, but the
Generals did not allow aircrew to have
parachutes in case they abandoned
their machines.

Right: ‘Sopwith Camel’, the most iconic
fighter aircraft of WWI.

War Poets This is contrasted by the works of
Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen.
Many officers wrote extensively Owen famously wrote that “his subject
during the war. Some used their is war and pity of war; the poetry is in
mostly public school education to the pity”. One of his most famous
write poetry. Some soldiers wrote poems ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ describes
poetry before they fought, such as a gas attack and cryptically attacks
Rupert Brook. His most famous poem Brook’s ‘The Soldier’ in the final verse.
is The Soldier written before he fought Also, in contrast to The Soldier,
and died at Gallipoli. This work is Sassoon’s ‘The General’ attacks
usually interpreted as glorifying war. perceived incompetence’s by the top
brass, all echoed in the play itself.
Aside from Baldrick, and his two
classics ‘War’s a Horrid Thing’ and
‘The German Guns’, there is only the
poet Isaac Rosenberg who was
working class and served in the ranks.

Left: ‘ That cursed wood’ by
Christopher R. W. Nevinson

Word from the director

Dear Audience Member,

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Beverley Theatre Company Presents 'Beverley Theatre Company are happy
to announce their next production
SteopuptingA play by Richard Harris will be 'Stepping Out' by Richard
Harris, at the Memorial Hall from
10 - 13 April 2019

‘Photos from our last
production - A Murder is
Announced’.

Cast Neville Slater

Captain Edmund Blackadder

Private S Baldrick Colin Walls

Lieutenant The Honourable William Drew
George Colthurst St. Barleigh

Captain Kevin Darling Ben Gardiner

General Sir Anthony Cecil Chris Dunnachie
Hogmanay Melchett

Driver Bob Parkhurst Kay Slater

Squadron Commander Helen Appleton-Wild
Lord Flashheart

Nurse Mary Fletcher-Brown Sam Kneeshaw

Brigadier Sir Bernard Tony Musgrave
Proudfoot-Smith

Field Marshall Haig Bill Watts

Graham the Slug Crew Himself
Director Mark Willoughby

Production Manager Cheryl Giles

Front of House Managers Cheryl Giles & Gemma Briggs

Production Support Cheryl Giles

Properties and Wardrobe Emma Drew

Continuity Pam Day

Stylist Kay Slater

Stage Manager Janet Briggs

Sound Paul Thomas

Lighting Paul Jenkinson

Stage Design Neville Slater & Tony Musgrave

Graphic Design George Slater

Kindly assisted by BTC Members and Friends