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| Sam Marlowe reviews The Wipers Times |
I never really did get the hang of French, despite being born just a whisper away from the Normandy Coast. I can read it reasonably well, and understand spoken French as long as it is delivered at a moderate pace, but my accent? C'est terrible!
So I had to smile this week at the news that the wonderful play, The Wipers Times, is currently receiving good reviews in the West End. The ability to 'keep on smiling' is the stuff that saved Great Britain in the First World War, and right now, across the globe, it seems in very short supply.
Wipers, in case you didn't know, was how the British soldiers pronounced Ypres, the Belgian town where in 1916, a Division of the Sherwood Foresters discovered an old printing press. Writing in The Times, critic Sam Marlowe tells us how Captain Fred Roberts and Lieutenant Jack Pearson teamed up with their sergeant, a printer by trade, to produce a newspaper offering both 'solace and send-up' to the men in the trenches.
'It's... a bright, bouncy comic strip of a show,' says Marlowe, ' that raises a sincere salute to the soldiers for whom laughter was a vital psychological defence against the horrors of the conflict, and the onslaught of bombs, guns and gas.'
And even - perhaps especially at its silliest,' he adds, ' the play has a respect for its subject matter that is deadly serious and decidedly affecting.'
It's no surprise then that The Wipers Times was the subject of a BBC 'docudrama' by satirist and Private Eye editor Ian Hislop and cartoonist Nick Newman back in 2013. The extended stage version directed by Caroline Leslie is at the Arts Theatre, WC2 until May 13.
6 comments:
I have just seen the play - thought it was brilliant. Funny but not without poignancy. I also visited Ypres last week and went to the museum to The Great war there. Most interesting.
I've learnt something there! Tres intéressant!
I'm really impressed that you've seen the play, Lindsay, and even more so that you've been to Ypres! I'd love to hear more about that!
Glad you liked it, Clo! A fascinating piece of history.
You are doing better than me Marilyn. I can’t speak or read a word of French, which is something I regret. Language lessons were on my list of things to do when I retired. Guess what I retired almost two years ago and have even less time now than when I was working. It is amazing how the days go past. Maybe I will start learning French when I reach 70 (not long now) or 80 – if I live that long. :-)
My cousin gave me a copy of the book the BBC Wipers Times series was based on. I'm thoroughly enjoying it and would love to see the stage play.
Oooh - you've encouraged me to get hold of a copy of the book now, Barbara. Like you, I can't resist holding a new, or antique, book in my hand and this seems like the perfect excuse. Also, like you, I am much busier now then I ever was at work - and more productive, too! ;)
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