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Getting this film off the ground was going to be a cinch.

Or so I thought.

It all started in 2010 when filming a behind-the-scenes series for Sky Arts at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London’s West End. There I met many talented people including a young, dynamic producer called Alice Driver.  Once I had finished the series, however, that was the end of my professional contact with Alice. 

Or so I thought.

I went straight out to Afghanistan to make another series about Royal Marines on the front line – a world away from West End theatre.   

Or so I thought.


Chris Terrill interviews the cast before the performance

Unknown to me Alice, so personally moved by the increasing number of war wounded coming home, had had an epiphany. She envisaged a new theatre company comprising injured soldiers who, as actors, would put on a show, based on their experiences, at the Haymarket.  On my return from Afghanistan Alice contacted me.  “Chris, if I can pull this off would you make a documentary about it?”  “Try and stop me!” I said.  “Would broadcasters be interested?” she asked.  “Absolutely” I replied.  “No-brainer!”   

Or so I thought.


Rehearsals of the physio scene

Alice, ever the rainmaker, secured funding to form her company of war wounded and I started filming.  I knew I would have to show potential broadcasters something to whet their appetites but that was going to be a doddle.

Or so I thought.

First I filmed the auditions - an astonishingly moving process that saw soldiers and marines, with either missing limbs,  debilitating brain injuries or paralyzing post traumatic stress, all wanting to give voice to their personal experiences of war.  Rehearsals followed but without a script – that would emerge organically out of interaction and improvisation.  Day by day a drama  evolved  with every actor driven by adrenalin and sheer guts as well as cocktails of pain killing drugs.   I was witnessing a stupendously brave and unique theatrical experiment that had everything: Passion, pathos, jeopardy and humour. I sent out a “taster tape” to all the main channels. The clamour was about to start.  

Or so I thought.

The tape was greeted by silence or polite rejection and a sense, I think, that, in broadcasting terms, the Afghanistan bubble had burst.  So what to do?   I kept filming for two months but a week before curtain up I was on my uppers – financially and emotionally. The no-brainer had become a no-hoper.

Or so I thought.


Dan Shaw and Cassidy Little rehearse on stage

Before phoning Alice to tell her the film was dead in the water I decided, as a last resort, to e mail Alan Yentob.  Three different departments at the BBC had turned down the film but I knew Alan from my own time at the Corporation and felt he would forgive a personal approach even though I held out little hope.  Astonishingly, Alan phoned me within minutes of receiving the e mail and came to view rushes the next day.  The upshot was an immediate commission for a feature length Imagine on BBC1.   When I announced to the cast that we had won a commission at the eleventh hour I was not going to let myself show undue emotion by crying tears of relief and pride. 

Or so I thought.


The cast of Bravo 22 in rehearsal

Imagine: Theatre of War (Uppercut Films) is nominated for Best Arts Documentary at The Grierson British Documentray Awards 2013. Producer/Director Chris Terrill.

 

The play 'The Two Worlds of Charlie F' was such a success they are now embarking on a major new tour of the UK to open in March 2014. To book tickets please visit www.charlie-f.com