‘Conchies’ play goes to Edinburgh Fringe

A play about a community of conscientious objectors will be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

A Lincolnshire pacifist community that included several Quakers is the subject of a play being taken to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August.

Ian Sharp’s play Conchies, which premiered last year, tells the story of a community of conscientious objectors (COs) that grew up around the villages of Legsby and Holton-cum-Beckering during the second world war.

The production will be presented at Edinburgh Meeting House and has Quakers in the cast, including the ninety-nine-year-old sole surviving CO of the community, Donald Sutherland.

Playwright Ian Sharp told the Friend: ‘The play is based on several interviews I did with surviving members over many years and some from the 1980s that I stumbled on. It tells the story of the community, its ideals and how the community broke up, mainly via their testimonies and with other scenes. One of our cast is the son of two “Conchies”. as they were called.’

Conchies premiered last December at the Broadbent Theatre in Wickenby, where it sold out for three nights. One of the performances was specifically for people with family connections to the conscientious objectors, including musician Damon Albarn, whose grandfather was a member, and the actor Jim Broadbent, whose father Roy founded the Legsby community.

Ian Sharp said: ‘There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.’

Another member was Francis Cammaerts, who later become a key figure in the French resistance movement. His nephew is Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse.

---

Comments

Please login to add a comment