“The war is not funny, Sir.” Colonel Howfield
“I’ve a feeling that may be the point.” General Mitford
The Wipers Times is a stage adaptation of the award-winning BBC film by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman. It tells the extraordinary story of the satirical newspaper created in the mud and mayhem of the Somme, interspersed with comic sketches and spoofs from the vivid imagination of those on the front line.
In a bombed out building during the First World War in the Belgian town of Ypres (mispronounced Wipers by British soldiers), two officers discover a printing press and create a newspaper for the troops. Far from being a sombre journal about life in the trenches they produced a resolutely cheerful, subversive and very funny newspaper designed to lift the spirits of the men on the frontline.
Defying enemy bombardment, gas attacks and the disapproval of many of the top Brass, The Wipers Times rolled off the press for two years and was an extraordinary tribute to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity.
The production takes place one hundred years after the Battle of the Somme and publication of The Wipers Times.
Ian Hislop and Nick Newman’s comedy, A Bunch of Amateurs, played to packed houses at The Watermill in 2014.
Running Times
Act One: 1 hour
Interval: 20 minutes
Act Two: 50 minutes
Directed by Caroline Leslie
Designed by Dora Schweitzer
Lighting designed by James Smith
Sound designed by Steve Mayo
Composer Nick Green
Musical Director Paul Herbert
Assistant Director Chloe France
Movement Director Emily Holt
Dialect Coach Mary Howland
Kevin Brewer
Henderson
The Wipers Times is Kevin’s professional stage debut. Experience whilst at LAMDA includes: Dimitri (Posh), directed by Vik Sivalingam; Mike (Goodnight Children Everywhere), directed by Tom Attenborough; Lazar Wolf (Fiddler On The Roof), directed by Caroline Leslie; Autolycus (The Winter’s Tale), directed by Joanna Read and Sir Toby Belch (Twelfth Night), directed by Scott Handy.
Eleanor Brown
Kate Roberts/Madame Fifi/Lady Somersby/Smith
Theatre credits include: Kathy Selden (Singin' In The Rain) Salisbury Playhouse, New Vic Stoke and Bolton Octagon; Judith (Crush) Belgrade, Coventry; Jessica (A Bunch of Amateurs) and Millie (Thoroughly Modern Millie) The Watermill Theatre; Judy Haynes (White Christmas) Pitlochry Festival Theatre; understudied and played the role of Sophie (Mamma Mia!) International Tour; Gretchen (Mother Goose) Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds; Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham.
Sam Ducane
Howfield/MC
Theatre credits include Cosmic Fear (New Diorama); Data (New Wimbledon Studio); Re:Act (St James Studio); Breakneck (PLAY Theatre/The Old Red Lion); UKIP! The Musical (Surgeons Hall).
Credits whilst training at RCSSD include: Miss Johnson, In Extremis, Bad Jazz.
Credits at the National Youth Music Theatre include Little Me, The Dreaming (NYMT).
James Dutton
Roberts
Theatre includes: Noises Off, Early One Morning, Journey’s End (Octagon Theatre); Donkeys Years (Rose Theatre Kingston); Thark (Park Theatre); Other Hands (Riverside Studios); Mrs Warren’s Profession, Homecoming, and Brit Bits (Manhattan Theatre Source – Off Broadway); Posh (West End).
Television includes: Our World War (BBC).
George Kemp
Pearson
Theatre includes: Posh (Greenwood Theatre, LAMDA); The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas, Of Mice and Men (Lindbury Studio, LAMDA); The Winter’s Tale (Pleasance Theatre, LAMDA), Fiddler on the Roof, Twelfth Night, Learning Love, The Revenger’s Tragedy, The Vortex (LAMDA); Giraffe - Raisin’ The Hoof, Giraffe - Let’s Talk About Sketch Baby (Edinburgh Fringe).
Film: Prince Charming (Outloud Productions), Sammy (Pretzel Films).
Peter Losasso
Dodd
Peter was recently awarded the 2016 Spotlight Prize for stage acting. Theatre while training includes: The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas, On the Shore of the Wild World, Kapital, Coriolanus (LAMDA).
Television includes: Parents of the Band and Tracy Beaker Returns (BBC).
Jake Morgan
Barnes
The Wipers Times is Jake’s first professional theatre appearance. Credits whilst at LAMDA include: Dennis Shepard in The Laramie Project directed by Ian Brown, Trotter in Journey’s End, directed by Caroline Leslie, and Michael in ‘FACE’ a LAMDA short film directed by Rebecca Johnson. Jake played Brody in the concert for new punk and rock musical drama Americana.
Dan Tetsell
General Mitford
Dan Tetsell’s one-man Edinburgh show, Sins of the Grandfathers, won the Writers’ Guild Best Comedy award and was adapted for Radio 4.
His TV appearances include Utopia, Miranda, Peep Show, War & Peace, Humans, Skins, Peter & Wendy and Mongrels. While on Hollyoaks he was nominated for a British Soap Award for Best Comedy Performance.
His radio appearances include The Museum of Everything, Paperback Hell, Cabin Pressure, Ed Reardon’s Week, Dilemma and Ian Hislop & Nick Newman’s News at Bedtime.