With the 80th anniversary of the Coventry Blitz around the corner, the city’s Belgrade Theatre is to revisit its critically acclaimed production One Night in November.
The 2013 production, a breathtaking wartime drama, will be available to stream online from 14-30 November, giving theatre-lovers the chance to revisit the show, or see it for the first time, from home during the impending four-week lockdown.
The show follows the story of one family’s harrowing experience of the Blitz, examining the idea that Winston Churchill may have had advance warning of the attack on the city – an idea that has caused much debate among historians and resulted in several books being written on the subject.
Written by local playwright Alan Pollock, One Night in November was one of the Belgrade Theatre’s most successful productions to date, featuring actors Charlotte Ritchie and Jason Langley.
With any in-person commemorations cancelled this year, the Belgrade’s reshowing of the production presents an alternate way of remembering the Coventry Blitz, while also supporting Coventry’s arts and theatre scene.
Tickets for the online streaming can be booked online at www.belgrade.co.uk.
Meanwhile, the Lord Mayor of Coventry’s Committee for Peace and Reconciliation are also to mark the occasion with the release of a new film looking back on the Coventry Blitz from the perspectives of five different people who lived through it.
Set to premiere online on 14 November, the film will feature the voices of two Belgrade Young Company members, along with three volunteers from the Committee.
The idea for the project came about after the Committee published a book on behalf of Coventry Cathedral last year.
The publication, Ruined and Rebuilt by Provost Howard, tells the story of the night bombs fell on Coventry, when Provost Howard and three other men ran through the Cathedral, trying to put out the fires. The very next morning, Howard resolved that the Cathedral would be rebuilt, and it was largely through his vision and leadership that Coventry was established as a city of peace and reconciliation.
Originally, the Committee had planned to host readings from the book in the ruins of St Michael’s Cathedral, however, over time, the idea developed of telling the story in a different way.
Committee Chair Philip Brown, who narrates the film, said, “We hope that the engagement of young actors from the Belgrade Youth Theatre, speaking the words of young people who lived through the war, will stimulate other young people to reflect on this.”
The film will premiere online at 8:00pm on 14 November at 14nov.coventrycityofpeace.uk.
