Big Brum Project Learning Resources
The End Of Reason 1914-1918
‘The End of Reason 1914-1918’ is a cycle of five plays, marking the centenary of the First World War and touring from 2014-2018. The plays were written by Chris Cooper for Big Brum to use as part of an integrated Theatre in Education experience for young people, making a 100-year-old conflict resonate with the lives of young people today.
The five plays are:
Part One (1914) ‘Home Front - Front Line’ – toured schools and universities in 2014.
Part Two (1915) ‘Sepoy’s Salute’ – toured schools and universities in 2015.
Part Three (1916) ‘Over The Top’ – toured schools and universities in 2016.
Part Four (1917) ‘The Land Between Two Rivers’ – unperformed play.
Part Five (1918) ‘Worlds Apart Together’ – toured schools and universities in 2018.
As of our launch in November 2020, we are now offering the play texts with supporting educational materials as a resource to schools, teachers, young people and practitioners in Birmingham and beyond. The creation of these materials has kindly been supported by the William A. Cadbury Trust, with additional support from The Grimmitt Trust.
Please note: we are offering complimentary hard copies of the plays and resources to schools in Birmingham, please contact judy@bigbrum.org.uk.
LAUNCH EVENT:
The publications were launched on 11th November 2020. For the launch, we brought together some of those involved in the original 2014-18 tours of the plays, including author Chris Cooper, Artistic Director Richard Holmes, actors Dhiren Gadhia, Siobhan Twomey and David Jackson, with company members Ben Ballin, Matt Hinks and Judy Woodford. We were also delighted to receive guest prefaces from our patron Shami Chakrabarti and from historian Professor David Andress. WATCH LAUNCH EVENT
Supporting download play material:
Home Front – Front Line, includes: Letters, maps, Recruitment papers and more
Over The Top — hypothesis about the outbreak and origins of the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918-1919.
World’s Apart Together — Resource 1
“A wonderful opportunity for young people to learn about seismic events at an equivalent moment in the last century and so to explore war, empire, power, poverty and identity from both a global and personal perspective, both then and now.”
