On a hot July evening, most of the cast and the director, Graham Poulteney, gathered at Brentwood School for the first proper read-through of the play together.
With a few chuckles at the scene set in a military hospital, and even the scenes set in the trenches, everyone got off to a good start. Halfway through, a tape measure was released and those that require accurate First World War uniforms were measured up, from head to toe, so that our costumier 'Khaki Devil' (based in Suffolk) could dress us appropriately.
The second act presented the actors with some highly emotional scenes, which, afterwards, led the cast to agree that this story was going to have a major impact on the audience (we hope!) and we can't wait to get our teeth into the rehearsal process later in August.
Here are a few photos from the read-through:
(L-R) Richard Spong as 'Guardsman Doyle', Bill Wells as 'Colonel Pottle' and Nathan Davis as 'John (Jack) Kipling'
Graham Poulteney as 'the director' (no really - he's the director... :-D)
(L-R) Poppy Day as 'Elsie Kipling', Justin Cartledge as 'Guardsman Bowe', Craig Whitney as 'Guardsman McHugh', Andrew Chesney as 'Rudyard Kipling'
