Past project archive

1995 "A Time To Remember" An international festival of reminiscence theatre

In October 1995, we marked the 50th anniversary of the end of hostilities in Europe with a festival in London entitled "A Time To Remember". Two hundred guests from 10 countries presented specially written pieces of theatre based on their memories of the end of World War II in their countries. [Image: A scene from Hymittos Theatre, Athens, at the “Time To Remember Festival” 1995].

Many of the elders who visited the festival in London had never left their home countries before. They spent a highly memorable week together sharing performances and participating in practical arts workshops which did not require a shared spoken language, but used song, dance, mime and improvisation as a means of communication. This Festival was a major undertaking, which none of the organisers or participants have ever forgotten and it succeeded in bringing together older people who were on opposing sides in the war in a spirit of reconciliation, creativity and new adventure. [Image: Young and Old from Hildesheim play end of the war memories]

The evaluation report of the project featured testimony in their own words from all the participating groups, including the elders themselves. Click here to view the survey as a PDF file [165k].

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