SHAKESPEARE’S church is preparing to commemorate the centenary of the ending of the First World War with a topical take on Henry V.
Holy Trinity will welcome theatre company Antic Disposition in November to perform their adaptation of Shakespeare’s history play over five nights.
It features original songs inspired by the poetry of AE Housman, shifting between 1415 and 1915, in a tribute to the young soldiers embroiled in conflicts five centuries apart.
The performances, from November 12 to 16, are part of a programme of collaborative events at Holy Trinity to mark 100 years since the armistice of the Great War in November 1918. .
In the week leading up to and following the Armistice Day on November 11, Holy Trinity will host eight transparent Tommy figures created by the charity Remembered as part of the There But Not There project. The silhouettes, which represent soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice during the First World War, are being installed across the UK to mark the centenary.
Holy Trinity has been awarded the silhouettes by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, which aims to bring communities together to reflect on the armistice and the armed forces today.
The silhouettes will be installed in St Peter’s Chapel which is dedicated as a memorial to the 61st (2nd South Midlands) Division, a second-line infantry unit raised in 1915 from the men of Warwickshire as well as those from South Birmingham, Coventry, Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.
And Holy Trinity will also host, in partnership with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, an exhibition telling the story of local people during the war, both in service of their country, and on the home front.
On Saturday November 10, the church will hold a vigil service, where local people and branches of cadet groups, the British Legion, territorial army and serving armed forces and their families, will have the opportunity to light candles in remembrance and join in thanksgiving for those who gave their lives.
And the following day, on Armistice Day itself, clergy from Holy Trinity will lead the remembrance commemoration at the war memorial and a special full bell peal will ring out celebrating the armistice announcement.
Visit www.henry-v.co.uk for tickets for Antic Disposition’s Henry V.
* SIR Andrew Hamilton will give a talk on ‘Stolen Lives – individual tragedies of the Great War’ at the next Friends of Coughton Court
meeting on Wednesday September 19.
New members are welcome. Meetings are held every third Wednesday of the month from March to October, in the restaurant of Coughton Court at 7.15pm.
