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.

There are two editions of this text. The ensemble text and a version for a single actor, which is very clever in its format. Reade also wrote the screenplay for the outstanding 2012 film version.

We staged the ensemble text version at school last year and were overwhelmed by the response, from students as well as parents. The students loved performing the text and felt hugely connected with the characters. I think this version gets to the heart of the unbelievable emotional turmoil that not only this family, but an entire generation of families went through and brought it home to us how much was sacrificed, how little we knew of what was to come and just how lucky we are to live in a time of peace.