Description
Object description
whole: the seven images are located in the upper three-quarters. The title is separate and positioned in the upper right,
in black. The text is separate and placed in the right three-quarters, in black, and in the upper left and right half, as captions, in
blue. Further text is separate and located in the upper fifth and lower fifth, in blue, held within blue borders. All set against a white
background.
image: the images depict various characters acting onstage during two plays performed by the Army Topical Theatre Unit.
text: 'THE BOMB'S ALL YOURS' -
TWO PLAYS WITH A PUNCH
Sergt. Bob Dawson V.C. appeals in turn to the Politician, the Religious Leaders, and (below) to the Scientists working on atomic research:
he gets a satisfactory answer from none of them.
SINCE 1943 the ARMY TOPICAL THEATRE UNIT has been shaking the Army in Britain and overseas by producing plays with a difference. This group
of soldier actors and actresses present plays with titles like 'What's Wrong with the Germans?', 'Getting Back into Harness' and 'The
Japanese Way' dealing with up-to-date questions in a down-to-earth way. They are now touring the Middle East with the two plays described
here and a production of 'Othello' which will be dealth with on a subsequent sheet.
The theme of 'Where do we go from here?' is the life of the man in the street between the wars, and the effect of the recent war upon our
ideas and way of living. Running through it like a pathetic chorus is the silent figure of the unemployed ex-serviceman and his gramophone.
You will find lots of good laughs, something to think about and a healthy reminder that the price of democracy, planned or unplanned, is
eternal vigilance.
The pathetic figure of the ex-serviceman between the two wars appears like a spectre throughout the play, haunting each character.
EX [S]ERVICEMAN
WIFE AND CHILDREN TO SUPPORT
What can WE do about the Atom Bomb is the idea running through 'The Bomb's All Yours' with the hero, Sergt. Bob Dawson V.C. appealing from
one authority to another for a lead. It is a question that has got to be answered by the present generation, and they must get the answer
right or else. By the way, if you do not see the point of the night club singer crooning about something called FISSION, that is the
scientific word for what an atom does when it explodes.
Out of work, disillusioned and without hope, Steve and John lounge on a dock-side wall.
As the purpose of these plays is to start YOU talking, they obey none of the rules. Employing film scenario and radio technique, they also
use exciting ideas from the experimental theatres that have been doing pioneer work in America, England, and especially Russia. Capt. Andre
van Gyseghem, who produces and acts in both plays, has had experience of all these: in particular he has worked at the Realist Theatre in
Moscow. The back-cloth, which is a cyclorama, can reproduce any effect from a sea-scape in 'Othello' to the interior of a laboratory (see
picture on left).
The eternal Civil Servant gets tied up in his own red tape.
The people protest against planning and control now that the war is over.
Pictorial Review
No. 64
MAY 11, 1946
Crown Copyright Reserved
Army Education, M.E.F.
Crown Copyright Reserved
'WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?'
Physical description
Pictorial Review No. 64.
An Army Education sheet for a production of 'Othello' performed by the Army Topical Theatre Unit was also produced (see PST
16864).