1900. A French and an English boy find themselves living in a dilapidated manor house in the Home Counties. Charles is a would-be poète maudit. Alfred likes Kipling. They share an Alsatian governess with a tragic secret. Bored, struggling to communicate, their games take a dark turn. Spirits are invoked, shadows gather, forewarnings of a time when they will meet again, as young men caught up in the horror of the Somme.

 

Poilu and Tommy was part of the Imperial War Museums’ Centenary Partnership Programme. An Anglo-French production, it offered a unique perspective on the cultural background to The Great War. The histories of war-ravaged Alsace, fin-de-siècle Paris, and Edwardian rural England, colliding in a beguiling, witty and unsettling piece of theatre. Its London run won it a nomination for an Off West End Award for Best Production.