Private Peaceful by Simon Reade

With last year being the centenary of the First World War, staging a play to commemorate the lives of the soldiers and their families seemed an obvious choice. But which play should we choose? There are some beautifully touching stories, but most focus solely on the trenches and we wanted to understand and present a story which did more than this.

Simon Reade's sensitive adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's Private Peaceful, does just that. It follows the journey of ‘Tommo’ and Charlie Peaceful, growing up before the Great War, living a simple rural life, falling in love. As well as the heart-wrenching action taking place during the trenches, the story looks at the incredibly emotional relationship between two brothers and it is a story which is beautifully told.