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When Winston Went to War with the Wireless

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When Winston Went to War with the Wireless
Written byJack Thorne
Date premiered13 June 2023
Place premieredDonmar Warehouse
London
Original languageEnglish
Setting1926, London

When Winston Went to War with the Wireless is a play by Jack Thorne about the BBC during the 1926 United Kingdom general strike.

Production history

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The play made its world premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London on 13 June 2023, following previews from 2 June, running until 29 July, directed by Katy Rudd.[1][2]

Cast and characters

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Character London (2023)
Isabel Sheilds Kitty Archer
John Reith Stephen Campbell Moore
Archbishop of Canterbury/J.C.C. Davidson Ravin J Ganatra
Stanley Baldwin Haydn Gwynne
Muriel Reith Mariam Haque
Ernest Bevin Kevin McMonagle
Charlie Bowser/Engineer Luke Newberry
Musician/Speaker of the house Seb Philpott
Arthur Pugh/Musician Elliott Rennie
Clemmie Churchill/Amelia Johnson Laura Rogers
Peter Eckersley Shubham Saraf
Winston Churchill Adrian Scarborough

Reception

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The Guardian's Arifa Akbar gave the play three stars out of five, observing that "the story comes in fast, evocative scenes with dialogue delivering lots of information, entertainingly, but not with enough probing" and praised Rudd's direction while stating that "ultimately, we are not sure what the play is saying."[1]

Writing for Time Out, Andrzej Lukowski also awarded the play three stars of five, claiming that it "never quite manages to live up to its intriguing concept" and calling it "an entertaining but flawed exercise in cakeism."[3]

Sarah Crompton of WhatsOnStage.com gave the play four stars out of five, describing it as a "fleet and fluid production" and highlighting the performances of Campbell-Moore, Scarborough and Archer.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b Akbar, Arifa (14 June 2023). "When Winston Went to War With the Wireless review – radio is the star of BBC crisis drama". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-07-15.
  2. ^ Curtis, Nick (14 June 2023). "When Winston Went to War With the Wireless at the Donmar Warehouse". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-15.
  3. ^ Lukowski, Andrzej (16 June 2023). "When Winston went to War with the Wireless". Time Out. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  4. ^ Crompton, Sarah (14 June 2023). "When Winston Went to War with the Wireless – review". WhatsOnStage.com. Retrieved 1 August 2023.