As part of her ongoing post-show Q&A series, on Thursday 15 March 2018, Mates co-founder Terri Paddock will talk to the writer/director Jonathan Guy Lewis (Our Boys) and members of the Soldiers Arts Academy about the world premiere of creator SOLDIER ON, at London’s new Playground Theatre. Got any questions?
What happens when a company of ex-soldiers becomes a company of actors? A theatrical band of brothers.
Although it’s not a cure-all, the bonding, the humour, the theatre of war helps to put them back together again – as a company of veterans and actors rehearse a play about a company of veterans and actors. Although worlds apart, they begin to realise there are more similarities between military life and the theatre than they bargained for, building a powerful new world of their own.
SOLDIER ON is a heart-warming story about surviving the forces and PTSD and what happens when you leave the military ‘family’.
Written and directed by Jonathan Guy Lewis, SOLDIER ON is presented by Soldier Arts Academy, which provides a platform for serving and ex-serving military personnel to participate in the creative and performing arts, using their skills and experiences to engage audiences.
The SOLDIER ON company, comprising numerous ex-soldiers, includes: Nicholas Clarke, Thomas Craig, Stephanie Greenwood, Mark Griffin, Max Hamilton-Mackenzie, Claire Hemsley, Rekha John-Cheriyan, Shaun Johnson, Mark Kitto, Cassidy Little, Bryan Michael Mills, Lizzie Mounter, Steve Morgan, Ellie Nunn, Mike Prior, Androcles Scicluna, David Solomon, Hayley Thompson and Zoe Zak.
Well known as an actor whose many screen and stage credits include Soldier Soldier, Jonathan Guy Lewis’ playwriting credits include his 1991 hit Our Boys, based on his own experiences in a veterans’ hospital, which was revived in the West End in 2012; I Found My Horn; and A Level Playing Field.
Terri Paddock founded WhatsOnStage.com and the WhatsOnStage Awards, running the company and its events from 1996 to 2013. Terri is also the author of two novels, Come Clean and Beware the Dwarfs, and has previously written for the Evening Standard, Independent, The Times and other national publications. She is renowned for her 'legendary' post-show Q&As and also produces the annual Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and acts as a digital, content strategy and event consultant for theatre, producers and other clients. She tweets about theatre at @TerriPaddock.
