Osprey presenting Remembrance play
‘Lest We Forget” by the Locke’s Island Players
The Osprey Arts Centre in Shelburne is presenting a Remembrance Day special performance by the Locke’s Island Players of ‘Lest We Forget: Letters From the Front Line.’
It takes place Saturday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 pm.
The new Lockeport-based theatre troupe ‘The Locke’s Island Players’ formed in 2017 under the direction of John Fredrick Brown. In just two short seasons, the troupe has produced a number of plays and found an enthusiastic local audience.
Now, the Locke’s Island Players is remounting one of their most popular pieces from 2017 at the Osprey for Remembrance Day, marking the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
‘Lest We Forget: Letters from the Front Line’ is based on letters and documents from the First World War, telling the story of “the war to end all wars.”
Developed and directed by Brown, ‘Lest We Forget’ is a series of letters read and stories told by eight actors, as well as a collection of original and periodaccurate music performed live by musicians.
“This war will soon be forgotten by those who have any memory of its momentous effect on the world,” says Brown. “It’s important that the story be told.”
“‘Lest We Forget’ is a musical remembrance of that period using World War I as a symbolic balancing point,” says Brown, “a summation of where we were in 1914 and what we were fighting for and whether in 2018 we have advanced as a society as we try to balance the democratic struggle.”
“Through a series of dramatic readings of personal diary entries of the men who were there and through re-creations of popular music-hall entertainments of the day, it tugs at the patriotic heart strings and examines the personal cost of living in a free country.”
Locke’s Island Players is a recreational community theatre group based in Lockeport. Anne Pierce is the musical director of “Lest We Forget” and the title is inspired by a song of the same name by George Thorburn, one of the actors.