FORGOTTEN VOICES Set for Edinburgh Fringe, 30 July - 25 August

Taken from the Imperial War Museum's oral testimonies of the veterans of World War One, Forgotten Voices is a series of vivid and deeply moving accounts of battle and its terrible aftermath. These accounts will be recited by actors, making a poignant tribute for the centenary commemoration of WWI. The play by Malcolm McKay is based on the best-selling book Forgotten Voices of the Great War by Max Arthur.

Historian and journalist Max Arthur's Forgotten Voices of the Great War was first published in 2002 to great acclaim. In 1972, a team of academics and archivists from the Imperial War Museum recorded interviews with veterans of the First World War from Britain, Germany, America, Australia and Canada. This archive provides a unique account of life during the Great War and the tapes contain the forgotten voices of a generation no longer with us. 30 years later, Max Arthur created a remarkable account of these first-hand stories.

Forgotten Voices will perform at the Grand - Pleasance Courtyard at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 30 July to 25 August daily at 1.30pm, with a special commemorative performance at 10.30pm on 4 August, which will end at midnight to mark the outbreak of WWI.

The production will be directed by Malcolm McKay, with original music by Nick Bicât and design by Douglas Heap. A core company of four actors will be joined at each performance by an international guest artist - details to be announced.

Malcolm McKay's previous theatre plays have included Pistols (Hackney Empire) and Airbase (Arts Theatre). For television, his scripts include NCS Manhunt, the adaptation of Gormenghast, and the award-winning A Wanted Man trilogy. His directing credits include Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (Globe Theatre), the television films Cruel Train (which he adapted from the Zola novel), Traitors and Wedded, and the television plays Redemption and Maria's Child, for both of which he also wrote the screenplays.

Nick Bicât has written over 150 scores and soundtracks for film, television and theatre. Twice nominated for a BAFTA, his film and television scores include A Christmas Carol (George C Scott), The Scarlet Pimpernel (Antony Andrews/Sir Ian McKellen/Jane Seymour), Wetherby (by Sir David Hare), and The Reflecting Skin (by Philip Ridley), The Irish RM, Holding On and Births Marriages & Deaths. He has composed for the Royal Shakespeare Company (The Greeks) and the National Theatre (Plenty, Pravda, King Lear), written eleven musicals and an opera, The Knife, with Sir David Hare (best musical score, 1989 New York Drama Desk Awards).

Forgotten Voices will be produced at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe by Nick Brooke Limited and the Pleasance Theatre Trust.

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