In His Own Words

Robert Winslow, Artistic Director





Photo by Marlon Hazlewood

October 15th, 2010

Well, another week is coming to an end here in Farnham. The time is flying by with so much to do and see and research. I'd like to say it's becoming old hat for me, the London underground system, but every journey throws a new wrinkle at me. The English tube (subway) trains are much smaller than ours in Canada and like everything else over here, promote the maximum use of space. And we are packed in like sardines in rush hour! London is electric though. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe I'm actually walking by Big Ben or Saint Paul's or Tower Bridge. The city has so many different areas, each extremely interesting. I'll never have time to discover them all even if I were here two years instead of two months.

Research on the new play Wounded Soldiers is going well. As I think I said before any time you really dig into a topic, the stereotypes and pre-conceptions you brought to it inevitably go out the windlow - unless of course one is terminally stubborn - and you have to start thinking in new ways about the past. This exploration of course is what gives 4th Line plays their ring of authenticity. I think our audiences expect this of us and can sniff out generalizations and superficiality.

This week on Wednesday I was at the Imperial War Museum in London. Rosanna Wilkinson, a daughter of a cousin of mine from Enniskillen, Ireland, works in the photographic section. They have over 1 million photos from the two World Wars. Only ten thousand of them are digitalized. I was able to browse the collection and find amazing images from particular World War I battles. What a treasure trove! The odd specifics revealed in some of the images are interesting. For example, in one photo from the aftermath of the Battle for Courcelette on the Somme in September 1916, a Canadian soldier is seen holding a black puppy that had been lying on the body of his dead German master, an officer killed in the battle. In another photo you see the dog being presented to a nurse at the Casualty Clearing Station behind the lines by the same soldier and his buddies. Of course there are many photos of the artillery barrages and men going over the top and the dead from both sides on the battlefield. But there are also those everyday moments, like a Canadian soldier cosying up to a young French woman in charge of a railway gate in a village near the Front lines.

Speaking of Canadian soldiers I was at a local history talk the other night in Epsom. There was a large Canadian army camp and convalescent camp called Woodcote Park there during World War I. After the talk I asked the speaker and the local audience if they had any stories about the Park and the Canadian soldiers stationed there. One lady said there was a famous one about the Canadian soldiers storming the local police station and causing quite a ruckus. I am going to follow this anecdote up and find out more about what happened almost 100 years ago!

Next weekend I am traveling to France on a three-day battlefield tour to Ypres, the Somme and Vimy. I am sure I will experience something as a Canadian that I have never felt before.

So cheerio and so long till my next missive! I will report again on October 26! Take care all. I'm missing the autumn colours. They're rather muted over here.

Rob