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Lest We Forget By Charlotte Green & Rasheka Christie-Carter

 
Rebecca Vines Review by Rebecca Vines 5 Published: 19 Aug 2020 A Company 6 Scots Show Dates: 18 Aug 2020-30 Aug 2020

Lying not too far beneath the CV19 surface of 2020 lie a series of news events that seem to epitomise our times. A famous actor whining about the appearance of a Sikh soldier in Mendes’ Oscar nominated 1917 is one. George Floyd is another. A national preoccupation with the flag-waving, anthem-singing, cheerful-bully-beef-munching ‘old lie’ of war rather than the filth of conflict itself is, of course, a perennial favourite.

This is a self-confident, important piece of work that vibrates with anger, tenderness, truth and humanity.

And we should, it goes without saying, never forget. Never forget the various sacrifices that were made in war. Never forget what led us to hostilities in the first place. Never forget that every statistic has a rich and complex human story behind it. But writers Charlotte Green and Rasheka Christie Carter make the point even within the title of their new production that there are a swathe of invisible soldiers of colour locked out of the tub-thumping “Two World Wars and One World Cup” narrative. Lest We Forget? The difficult truth is that many have never been prepared to remember in the first place.

In WWI, the sweetly tentative romance of soldier William James and factory worker Edith Booth would be unremarkable were it not for his black heritage inviting raised eyebrows, racial slurs and unfounded hate. The writing is too sophisticated to seek to hammer it home, but their story – and the backdrop of the 1919 race riots – is of course horribly resonant with where some of the darker corners of humanity took us a century later.

This is a self-confident, important piece of work that vibrates with anger, tenderness, truth and humanity. Initially conceived as a stage production, it works beautifully as a radio play and the small band of actors fuse a rare polish and verve with a lovely sense of sincerity and rawness.

The team are at pains to point out that this was a rehearsed reading and not yet the finished article… in which case, we are – at some point hopefully not too far in the future – in for a dramatic treat, a sense of moral indignation and some haunting exchanges that remind us of our eternal hunger for kindness and togetherness.

Amir Nisi

Rebecca Vines

Rebecca is an acclaimed practitioner and lecturer with a renowned global practice; and is the current Drama Chairman for the board of the British and International Federation of Festivals. Rebecca began her writing career as a diarist at The Guardian newspaper, and has been reviewing theatre since 2000. Rebecca trained as a performer with the Actors Company, and has written, directed and produced critically acclaimed and sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe since 2003.

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A live-from-home reading of Lest We Forget – a World War One drama following William James, a black British soldier, and Edith Booth, a white Northerner – followed by a Q&A with the creative team.

From the outbreak of war in 1914 to the race riots of 1919 we follow the lives of William James, a black British soldier and Edith Booth, a white Northerner new to London. When William and Edith fall in love during one of Britain’s most devastating periods in history they thought their hardest battle would be surviving the war, but fighting prejudice on the home front proves almost as challenging.

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