“This Evil Thing” to amplify voices of conscience from World War I
Performance: “This Evil Thing”: Voices of Conscience in World War I
Date and Time: Wednesday, March 28, 7:30 p.m.
Location: Umble Center
Cost: Free and open to the public.
On Wednesday, March 28, Michael Mears, English actor and playwright, will present “This Evil Thing: Voices of Conscience in WWI,” a riveting one-person dramatic performance that tells the story of conscientious objectors in Great Britain during World War I. The performance starts at 7:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Bertrand Russell is one of the greatest mathematicians of his time. Bert Brocklesby is a young schoolteacher and Methodist preacher. When military conscription is brought in, their worlds are turned upside down.
This Evil Thing is the compelling and inspiring story of the men who said no to war. From a chapel in Yorkshire to the House of Commons, from a cell in Richmond Castle to a firing squad in France, the questions raised here are as relevant and urgent as they were 100 years ago.
Mears intersperses historical re-enactment with his own self-questioning, even asking what he would have done, had he been born at the time.
Michael Mears has had a rich and varied career in theatre, television and film – including seasons with the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Peter Hall Company, portraying many classical and Shakespearean roles.
He has also performed in London’s West End on a number of occasions, most notably for nine months as Arthur Kipps in the long-running hit The Woman In Black. Television roles include Rifleman Cooper in the first six Sharpe films, and Alex Kozoblis in two series of The Lenny Henry Show. On film he will be remembered as the Hotel Barman who brings Hugh Grant and Andie McDowell together in Four Weddings And A Funeral.
But Mears is best known as an award-winning performer of his own original solo plays for theatre and radio.
Tomorrow We Do The Sky, about the lives of factory canteen workers, premiered at the Traverse Theatre during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1991, and was nominated for the Independent Theatre Award, and Time Out Theatre Award, before playing in London, on tour, and subsequently being broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
This was followed by Soup, his Scotsman Fringe First Award winning solo play about homelessness, which garnered five star reviews and had a sell out three week run at the Pleasance in 1995. Mears was also nominated for the Stage Best Actor Award at that year’s festival. Soup also played in London, on tour, and was broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
A Slight Tilt To The Left played at the Assembly Rooms in 2002, and this play, as well as four other solo plays, Slow Train To Woking, Uncle Happy, Jam and Arnold Darwin’s Feeling Better, were all specially commissioned for BBC Radio, and have been performed by him on Radio 4.