This Evil Thing - Bristol
St John on the Wall, Bristol
Following its acclaimed run in the Edinburgh Fringe last summer, THIS EVIL THING is now on tour
January 1916: Bert Brocklesby is a young schoolteacher, and preacher at his local Methodist church; Bertrand Russell is one of the greatest mathematicians of his time. With the advent of military conscription their worlds are about to be turned upside down.
THIS EVIL THING is the compelling, shocking and inspiring story of the men who said no to war; a rarely told story involving a dizzying journey from a chapel in Yorkshire to the House of Commons; from an English country garden to a quarry in Aberdeen; from a cell in Richmond Castle to a firing squad in France.
"WELL-KNOWN actor and playwright Michael Mears brings his one-man play, This Evil Thing, about conscientious objectors in the First World War to Stratford’s Kempe Studio this Sunday. The play marks 100 years since conscription was bought in in 1916, here Michael tells Herald arts about the play and his inspiration for writing it" The Stratford upon Avon Herald .interview 12th January 2017.
"18? You’re too young to have a conscience!’
With military conscription still in force in many countries today, and prisoners of conscience still languishing in jails, the questions posed by THIS EVIL THING are as relevant and urgent as they were one hundred years ago.
A Q & A session will follow the second performance.
Inspirational and disturbing **** Festmag
A magnificent tour de force **** Scotsgay
