Project Description
'Subterranean Sepoys' was a radio play by Avin Shah about daily life in the trenches with the British-Indian Army on the Western Front. It examined how Indian soldiers adapted to the reality of trench warfare, before and after the Battles of Neuve Chapelle, Aubers and Festubert in Spring 1915. The drama was developed through interactive research workshops with a team of Citizen Historians from across London and World War One heritage specialists. The piece was produced by Tara Arts with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the National Theatre. As part of the project, we developed an Education Resource Pack which can be downloaded via the 'Project Evaluation' link below.
Organisation
Organised by
Tara Arts
Region
Greater London
Location
SW18 4ES
Event
Date
2014-06-30, 2014-06-30
Venue
National Theatre, St John's Church, Waterloo Road
Location
SE1 8TY
Focus and Research
Resources used for research
Although the play is fictional, its story evolved from a series of workshops in which volunteer historians researched largely forgotten archives, unpublished diaries and personal letters of both Indian and British soldiers who fought side by side on the Western Front during the conflict. These discoveries helped to create the play's setting and give life to its characters. Our major sources were war diaries and archives of the Indian Army Corps from August 1914 until late 1915, alongside largely uncensored sepoys’ letters from the anthology ‘Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers Letters’, compiled by Professor David Omissi.