Behind-the-scenes #22: Birdsong Launch with George Banks and Jonny Clarke

On Monday 13 January, the 2014 national tour of Rachel Wagstaff’s stage play Birdsong, adapted from the novel by Sebastian Faulks, was launched at the National Army Museum. This stunning piece of live theatre will be performed at Swindon's Wyvern Theatre from Tuesday 1 to Saturday 5 July 2014. In pre-war France, a young Englishman, Stephen Wraysford, embarks on a passionate and dangerous affair with the beautiful Isabelle Azaire that turns their worlds upside down. As the war breaks out, Stephen must lead his men through the carnage of the Battle of the Somme and through the sprawling tunnels that lie deep underground. Faced with the unprecedented horror of the war, Stephen clings to the memory of Isabelle and the idyll of his former life as his world explodes around him. The 2013 tour was hugely successful and critically acclaimed, seen by over 75,000 people and receiving 4 and 5 star reviews, with audiences calling the show ‘simply stunning’. Sebastian Faulks is thrilled the show is being re-mounted for 2014, the year that will mark 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War. The tour of Birdsong will continue to support Help for Heroes, after raising over £50,000 through collections and events on the 2013 tour. Birdsong will again be directed by Alastair Whatley, with set design by Victoria Spearing, lighting by Alex Wardle for Charcoalblue and sound by Dom Bilkey. Birdsong will be produced on tour by Alastair Whatley for The Original Theatre Company and Anne-Marie Woodley and Jon Woodley for Birdsong Productions Ltd.