All change at Broadway. Next stop, Auschwitz

















The main gate at the former Nazi death camp of Birkenau. Note that this is inside the camp looking back from the loading ramp to the 'Gate of Death.' Photo by Angelo Celedon

Versatile, to say the least, is what I felt about those Imperial Productions people when I read of their latest stage plans. They've been coming to Budleigh Salterton for many years to entertain us with their wonderful shows, but of course we're not their only audience.

Only a few days ago at http://budleighbrewsterunited.blogspot.com/2011/08/guys-and-dolls-in-budleigh-salterton.html I posted news of 'Guys and Dolls', their 2011 Budleigh summer musical.

The last call is now going out for enthusiastic amateurs to help put together a rather different production. The director is the energetic David Phipps-Davis, responsible for last October's staging of 'Gigi', about which I wrote at http://budleighbrewsterunited.blogspot.com/2010/10/stars-to-add-sparkle-to-budleigh.html

I suppose there's a connection between that and Mr Phipps-Davis' latest venture, since it's about another Frenchwoman, but there the comparison ends.

Based upon the true story of Charlotte Delbo, a member of the French resistance who spent nearly three years in concentration camps, the play 'Who Will Carry the Word?' depicts the lives of twenty-three women while they share a barracks in Auschwitz. It is, as the director put it, "their story of hope, friendship and sacrifice to journey back and tell the truth to the world."

I think it's unlikely to come to Budleigh, but you never know.

Meanwhile, if you feel you'd like to see a darker side of Imperial Productions' theatrical ventures and happen to be in the London area in October you might like to make a note in your diary.

The show runs for two weeks from Tuesday 18 - Saturday 29 October 2011 at The Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, Brockley, SE4 2DH. There are only ten performances, Tuesday – Saturday nightly at 7.45pm. There will also be two preview performances (one in the afternoon and one in the evening – times to be confirmed) on Thursday 13 October 2011 at All Saints Arts Centre, 122 Oakleigh Road North, N20 9EZ.

For more information about Imperial Productions, click on http://www.imperialproductions.org/

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