Theatre and the Great War | Dr Helen Brooks

Over the years, we have filmed quite a lot of speakers at the branch. These have been available to view on the WFA's YouTube channel, and can also be found as 'articles' on the WFA website. However these videos have not been separately grouped for those visiting the Yorkshire branch 'landing page' on the website.

By starting a process of loading these onto the branch page, this makes a number of talks that stretch back to about 2019 'visible'.

In this presentation, Dr Helen Brooks talks about 'Theatre and the Great War' - which was given to the branch in February 2022.

Drawing on findings from the nationwide Great War Theatre project Dr Helen Brooks shares new discoveries about the ways in which theatre-makers responded to the First World War.

In this presentation, Helen discusses the recruiting sketches of the first eighteen-months of the war, the mobilisation of the Home Front from late 1915, and trench-plays including, most famously, Bruce Bairnsfather's smash-hit The Better 'Ole (1917).