Guy Masterson Returns to Adelaide Fringe with Four Productions

Olivier Award winner Guy Masterson returns for his 12th Adelaide Fringe with an Adelaide premiere season of four acclaimed plays themed on war and its effects on the individual combatants.

Entitled Lest We Forget the series plays at The Bakehouse Theatre 255 Angas Street Adelaide from 19 February to 17 March

The series begins with Masterson's own powerful evocation of the WWI trenches: Anthem for a Doomed Youth; a compendium of the finest stories and poems of the trenches of the Great War from both sides of No-Man's Land.

Including works by writers such as Siegfried Sassoon, Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen, Erich Maria Remarque and many others, Anthem for a Doomed Youth is compiled and performed by Masterson backed by evocative lighting and sound effects. Each element is delivered with astonishing versatility and a voice reminiscent of his great uncle, Richard Burton. The production had its world premiere in Edinburgh in 2014.

Guy says, 'I have always been moved by stories of the Great War in books, films and poems. But, other than the Oscar winning All Quiet on the Western Front, we rarely hear the experiences of our foes. How similar were they to ours? I wanted to investigate the entire poetic landscape from both sides of No-Mans' Land. We are all familiar with the words of Wilfred Owen and Siegfied Sassoon, but rarely do we hear those of Isaac Rosenberg or Erich Maria Remarque. War is war and it is awful. I am more interested in the ultimate human drama of the combat soldier offering his life for his country or comrade, and the terrible conditions in which those dramas are played out. The fact that many of the poets featured in this compilation did not outlive the war is testament that they wrote in the moment, and the vividness of those moments is dramatic and powerful. That is what I wish to explore'.

ANTHEM FOR A DOOMED YOUTH previews on 19 February at 9.00pm then plays from 20 Feb to 1 Mar at 9.00pm. Presented by Theatre Tours International.

The second production in the Lest We Forgetseries is Shell Shock, a stunning personal realisation of one former soldier's experience of learning to cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

After a long career in the military, Tommy's observations on the absurdities of every-day life back on civvy street are frequently comic, sometimes violent but always poignant. Nothing is safe... a post office queue, a trip to Ikea and a Nintendo Wii all feel the force of Tommy's outraged frustration...

Based on Shell Shock: The Diary of Tommy Atkins by Gulf War veteran Neil Watkin, Shell Shock is adapted and performed by BBC comedy veteran Tim Marriott (The Brittas Empire) following successful seasons in Edinburgh and New York and an extensive 'stigma reduction' tour to regional theatres and education centres including 'behind the wire' performances to serving personnel throughout the UK.

Shell Shock previews on 26 Feb at 7.30pm and then plays 28 Feb, 2, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 March at 7.30pm. Presented by Guy Masterson - CIT and Smokescreen Productions.

Shell Shock is created with the support of military charities Help for Heroes, Combat Stress and the Stand Tall for PTS.

Shell Shock trailer: https://player.vimeo.com/video/220283778

More information available at www.shellshock.org.uk

The third play in the series is Mengele, inspired by the novel Right to Liveby Philip Wharam

1979. On a beach in Brazil, Josef Mengele, the notorious doctor of Auschwitz, takes his routine morning swim. Out in deep water he has a seizure and is washed ashore, where he is confronted by a local woman who he assumes has saved him. Flattered and entranced by this enigmatic presence, he is seduced into revealing himself. As he seeks to justify his life he ultimately only succeeds in damning himself.

Mengele is scripted and performed by Tim Marriott (BBC TV's The Brittas Empire) with Adelaide-based performer Melanie Lyons (Area 407, Cloudstreet) as 'Azra'. Presented in cinematic style, this production is atmospheric, evocative and poignant in its contemporary reference exposing a sociopathic narcissist. An acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Fringe festival resulted in Mengele being selected as a 'Fringe Encore Winner' to play an off-Broadway season in New York.

As the rhetoric of current debates and campaigns echo the rhetoric of the 1930s, the words of Auschwitz survivor Lydia Tischler are particularly appropriate; "the best way to remember is for it not to happen again... the potential for destructiveness is in all of us". Tim Marriott adds: "the lessons from history are easily forgotten if we allow debate to be reduced to the slogans and sound bites of today... this play aims to serve as a reminder to all of us of the complexities and darkest impulses of human nature".

Mengele previews on 27 Feb at 7.30pm then plays 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 13, 15 and 17 March at 7.30pm. Presented by Guy Masterson - CIT and Smokescreen Productions.

Mengele is created with support and advice from the Holocaust Educational Trust and the Amud Aish Memorial Museum of New York.

More information available at www.smokescreenprods.com

(Historical note: During WW2, Josef Mengele was a doctor at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp where an estimated 1.5 million people were exterminated by the Nazis. Mengele was obsessed with twins and conducted excessively cruel experiments on children and adults. He escaped prosecution and lived a full life in South America, eventually drowning off a beach in Brazil. Author Philip Wharam adds: 'according to his lawyer son Rolf, Mengele was a committed genocidal and nihilistic Nazi who saw purity in his crackpot experiments, juxtaposing immense cruelty with random acts of kindness'.)

Between the Crosses is the final play in the Lest We Forgetseries.

Flying Bridge Theatre ('A Regular Little Houdini', Adelaide 2016) bring you a living history piece, written and performed by Will Huggins and Produced by Flying Bridge Theatre Ltd(Creators of A Regular Little Houdini) Between the Crosses is a true story and a powerful metaphysical dialogue between the living and the dead. This unique theatrical experience is a powerful true story of survival, loss and hope that questions society's need to create heroes and invites the audience to comprehend the trauma and guilt of the survivor. Who is the hero? The lucky one who left his pals in the field, or the man who spared his family the trauma?

Edgar Huggins, WWI veteran and the last surviving Durham Light Infantryman, speaks to his great nephew William from beyond the grave in a recorded interview. He talks about how he joined-up because he wants to work with horses and travel to Australia, but finds himself on the front line. His account of Ypres and the Somme is honest and direct, but ultimately he holds his tongue. Why: For national security: To save his family the horror?

Between the Crosses previews 5 March at 9.00pm then plays 6, 7, 8, 9,10, 12, 14,15,16 and 17 March at 9.00pm. Presented by Guy Masterson - CIT and Flying Bridge Theatre.

Guy Masterson is a UK based actor and presenter who has mounted some 40 productions at the Adelaide Fringe since 2004's Award winning Twelve Angry Men. He is responsible for such hits as Under Milk Wood, Animal Farm, Shylock, Adolf, Austen's Women, The Sociable Plover, Scaramouche Jones, and Oleanna among many others. In 2010 Guy co-founded CIT - Adelaide Centre for International Theatre with local impresario, Joanne Hartstone. His company is the most awarded at the Edinburgh Fringe and he became an Olivier Award winner in 2010 for his production Morecambe.

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