Peace and conflict

David Saunders reviews a new film about Benjamin Britten’s pacifism

Mykola Allen, Alex Lawther (Benjamin Britten) and Bradley Hall in the Music Room. | Photo: Photo: Alex John.

It wasn’t the Odeon, Leicester Square – no red carpet, no ‘A listers’, no paparazzi, no designer gowns – but it was the world premiere of Tony Britten’s (no relation) new film about the development of Benjamin Britten’s pacifist convictions while a pupil at Gresham’s School, Holt in Norfolk. Appropriately, the premiere was held in the Auden Theatre at Gresham’s, which was named after one of Britten’s one-time friends, WH Auden, who was a pupil at Gresham’s a bit before Britten. The occasion marked the publication of a new biography of Britten by Paul Kildea, who was present.

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