19 November 2009 - The Serving Soldier project and Spectrum Drama recently delivered a thirty minute training drama at the Joint Services Command and Staff College at Shrivenham. The College is one of the main training centres for the British Army and also attracts a large overseas contingent who undergo training in the UK. The play is entitled ‘Fighting Your Corner’ and is based on first hand accounts including diaries, reports and personal testimonies from soldiers who fought in a series of British colonial engagements in the North West Frontier of India a century ago, and which have been digitised as part of the project.
The play is designed to assist the training of officers preparing to serve in Afghanistan or in peacekeeping operations elsewhere by highlighting historical parallels with current troubles. The play is divided into a number of self-contained scenes which can be incorporated into military seminars or classes, though the play is also suitable for more varied audiences including schools and universities, informing debate on such issues as the interaction of military and civilian populations, understanding cultural difference and the dangers of armchair diplomacy.
The performance is the second successful example of collaboration between the Archives and Spectrum: the company last year performed a play ‘Lost in the Field of Blackbirds’ based on archive sources and accounts of the conflicts in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, which was produced as part of the successful Lottery-backed ’Their Past Your Future’ initiative. The play aimed to stimulate debate on themes of reconciliation, trauma and the experience of the refugee in modern Europe and was performed at a number of London venues to audiences of young and old. A podcast and educational pack are available for download: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/archivespec/collections/Digital.aspx
Together, these initiatives aim to bring archives to life and engage new audiences with lively historical topics and issues. They also seek to stimulate fresh use of original archive material and bring together different academic disciplines by exploring innovative learning strategies using new technology.
Fighting Your Corner will be released shortly as a podcast and it is hoped will be incorporated into future military training initiatives at Shrivenham.
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