Strasbourg's Theatre Voliere brings new play Poilu and Tommy to Courtyard Theatre

This February Theatre Voliere bring an English language version of their haunting new play POILU AND TOMMY about decadence, repression, and the allure of war, to The Courtyard Theatre, Shoreditch.



1900. A French and an English boy find themselves living in a dilapidated manor house in the Home Counties. Charles is a would-be poète maudit. Alfred likes Kipling. They share an Alsacien governess with a tragic secret. Bored, struggling to communicate, their games take a dark turn. Spirits are invoked, shadows gather, forewarnings of a time when they will meet again, as young men caught up in the horror of the Somme.



Written by award-winning poet Mick Wood, Poilu and Tommy was originally commissioned by The Ledbury Poetry Festival. It is the sole professional French theatre project to be part of the Imperial War Museums’ Centenary Partnership, and offers a unique perspective on the cultural background to The Great War. The histories of war-ravaged Alsace, fin-de-siècle Paris, and Edwardian rural England, collide in a beguiling, witty and unsettling piece of theatre.



Théâtre Volière is a touring theatre company, produced by the association Jolly Good Show. It develops new written and devised theatre, bringing artists from across Europe to work with artists and performers from Strasbourg and Alsace. Last summer Théâtre Volière performed ‘PREVERTS ANGELS in Strasbourg and at the Ledbury Poetry Festival in the UK. November 2013 saw THE TURKEY CARPET at The Cockpit Theatre, London & L'Espace Malreux, Geispolsheim.



POILU AND TOMMY will be performed by French and English Adult and child actors: Tom Grace, Lula Suassuna, Séverine Masse, James Peacock, Jonathan Rigby, Virge Gilchrist, Jan Wood and Gabriel Wood. (Credits for all below)



Poilu and Tommy is directed by Natasha Wood and will be designed by Ruta Irbite (recently shortlisted for the Linbury Prize for Stage Design 2013 with her design for Scottish Dance Theatre exhibited at the National Theatre.)