Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Road to Glory
    The Road to Glory
    The Road to Glory
    Ebook143 pages54 minutes

    The Road to Glory

    By Neil Duffield

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A group of young villagers, some of them teenagers are persuaded to enlist in King Henry’s army. They set sail from Southampton to claim the throne of France for England. Each has a different reason for going to war and their expectations vary, but none has any experience of fighting in a real battle.


    Combining fact and fantasy, the play takes us on a journey from the peace of rural England to the bloody battlefields of Agincourt in France, where the young villagers finally come face to face with the mightiest army in Europe. The reality is both shocking and brutal.


    What happens changes their lives forever.


    Ideal play for schools,colleges and youth theatres which questions the need for war and its consequences.



    Reviews of previous work


    "... an extraordinarily moving and effective play, so dramatic that, at times, it is almost assaulting." The Guardian


    "... this blazingly adventurous show." The Scotsman


    "... no doubting the show's mesmerising appeal to the imagination, which seized the audience with rapt delight." Daily Telegraph


    "... there is not a moment which isn't magical." Yorkshire Post


    "... a marvellous play, a complex dramatic story, challenging in both form and content" Times Educational Supplement


     


    About the author


    Neil Duffield has written more than 50 plays which have been produced extensively throughout Britain and abroad. His play The Lost Warrior, commissioned by the Dukes Lancaster, won the 2006 Arts Council of England Award for work which displays excellence, inspiration and innovation in children's theatre.


    Recent productions include: The Ugly Duckling (Sheffield Crucible and Nottingham Playhouse 2007), Leopard (Sheffield Crucible 2007), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Dukes Theatre, Lancaster 2006). The Snow Queen (Watermill Theatre, Newbury 2006), The Firebird (Northumberland Theatre Company 2006), The Secret Garden (Helix Theatre Dublin 2005) and The Emperor's New Clothes(Midlands Arts Centre, 2005).


    Neil is married to freelance theatre director Eileen Murphy and lives in Bolton.



    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAurora Metro Books
    Release dateFeb 28, 2018
    ISBN9781906582814
    The Road to Glory

    Read more from Neil Duffield

    Related to The Road to Glory

    Related ebooks

    Performing Arts For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      On My Radar: Ian McKellen’s Cultural Highlights

      Jul 23, 2022

      The actor Ian McKellen was born in Burnley, Lancashire in 1939. Since the 1970s he has performed regularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company and at the National Theatre. He has received seven Laurence Olivier awards, a Tony, a Golden Globe and a Scr

      4 min read

    • Article

      Lewes And Eastbourne

      Oct 25, 2021

      Lewes And Eastbourne
      4 min read

    • Article

      When The World Goes Crazy

      Jul 19, 2023

      When The World Goes Crazy
      4 min read

    • Article

      Headlining in Hilton

      Jul 29, 2023

      Headlining in Hilton
      4 min read

    • Article

      What’s On

      Apr 29, 2019

      An intriguing play by Sarah DeLappe portrays a “frank and hilarious portrait of nine young warriors”, in which the warriors are teenage girls coming together to train and play soccer. If you’ve seen serious schoolgirl soccer, you won’t dispute the co

      3 min read

    • Article

      Behind The Curtain

      Sep 13, 2022

      Behind The Curtain
      2 min read

    • Article

      A Cupboard Full Of Memories

      Mar 17, 2021

      WHAT do we do about the theatrical past? Do we preserve it or junk it? There are reports that the V&A Museum’s theatrical archive is under threat because of staff cuts; anyone who has used this invaluable research tool will be alarmed at the news. Ho

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Old Un's Notes

      Oct 18, 2023

      The Old Un's Notes
      4 min read

    • Article

      On Stage

      Dec 16, 2022

      On Stage
      1 min read

    • Article

      CROYDON & LONDON

      Nov 25, 2021

      CROYDON & LONDON
      3 min read

    • Article

      There Is Nothing Like My Dames

      Feb 8, 2023

      With the wonderful Dame Judi Dench, at the beginning of March, I am hosting a charity matinee at the London Palladium. It’s to mark my 75th birthday and, more importantly, to raise £ 75,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital, where my youngest grandson

      3 min read

    • Article

      On stage THEATRE & MUSIC

      Aug 13, 2021

      On stage THEATRE & MUSIC
      2 min read

    • Article

      Theatre Review

      May 1, 2023

      This revival of Betty Blue Eyes, directed by Sasha Regan, sits happily in the small Union Theatre. Somehow it accommodates a talented ensemble cast of nineteen and a three-piece band without ever feeling cramped. It’s 1947 in a Yorkshire village. Rat

      3 min read

    • Article

      My 21st-century Touchstone Play: Theatre Stars Share The Shows That Shook Them To The Core

      Feb 19, 2021

      Here at the Evening Standard, we recently tried to pull together the 21st-century’s greatest plays (read our list and see if you agree). But what about those plays that impact us more personally, that seem to speak to us directly and leave us getting

      7 min read

    • Article

      Theatre Review

      Jun 17, 2023

      Theatre Review
      6 min read

    • Article

      Their Stars Still Shine Brightly

      Oct 14, 2020

      LIVE theatre remains on a knife-edge. The good news is that the National Theatre and the Theatre Royal, Bath, are among those that are re-opening: less happily, thousands of workers have been laid off and fear of a second lock-down remains. This mont

      4 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Oct 11, 2023

      Reviews
      11 min read

    • Article

      No Turkeys Allowed! 25 Of The Best Shows To Book For Christmas 2021

      Nov 16, 2021

      An adorable elephant puppet named Peanuts was the big hit of this circus spectacular when it rolled into the Southbank Centre in 2019. Now it’s back, with ringmaster David Williamson introducing some old favourites alongside new international acts in

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Play’s The Thing

      Apr 15, 2021

      Entertainment in late medieval and Tudor London came in a variety of forms, including cockfighting, bearbaiting and even public executions. Plays at this time often had a religious theme or a moral at the end – such as the battle between good and evi

      5 min read

    • Article

      Book Review

      Jan 30, 2023

      Published by Troubador Mike Dixon is one of the most successful MDs in showbiz. Highlights of his career include MD-ing Joseph and the Amazing Technicoloured Dreamcoat initially with Jason Donovan in the title role and then training the novice Philip

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Road to Glory

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Road to Glory - Neil Duffield

      (original)

      THE ROAD TO GLORY

      by Neil Duffield

      Set: Non-specific and multi-locational.

      Costume: Not tied to any one period. A mixture of past and present.

      Chorus: Numbers are flexible and may vary from scene to scene. Chorus members carry wooden staves which they use as bows, spears, lances, farm implements, banners, etc, as well as using them collectively to represent a pillory, a ship, etc.

      Music/percussion (live or recorded) is used wherever appropriate to accompany songs, link scenes, and to add mood and atmosphere.

      ACT ONE

      Music. Lights up on the Chorus as farm workers, using their staves as scythes, pitchforks, etc, to gather in the harvest.

      Straight into song.

      Anna, Margaret and Thomas are among the harvesters. Thomas is attempting to teach Anna how to use a scythe – with little success. Margaret looks on.

      CHORUS

      ‘Oh where are you going?’ said Milder to Moulder

      ‘Oh we may not tell you!’ said Festel to Fose

      ‘We’re off to the wood!’ said John the Red Nose

      ‘We’re off to the wood!’ said John the Red Nose

      ‘And what will you do there?’ said Milder to Moulder

      ‘Oh we may not tell you!’ said Festel to Fose

      ‘We’ll shoot the cutty wren!’ said John the Red Nose

      ‘We’ll shoot the cutty wren!’ said John the Red Nose

      ‘And who’ll get the spare ribs?’ said Milder to Moulder

      ‘Oh we may not tell you!’ said Festel to Fose

      ‘We’ll give them all to the poor,’ said John the Red Nose

      ‘We’ll give them all to the poor,’ said John the Red Nose.

      Music underscores and work continues as the Chorus address the audience.

      CHORUS

      Imagine a time:

      CHORUS

      A time that is as much fantasy as it is fact.

      CHORUS

      As much present as it is past.

      CHORUS

      A time that is neither now nor then.

      CHORUS

      Imagine a village.

      CHORUS

      A village that is as much invented as it is real.

      CHORUS

      As much near by as it is far away.

      CHORUS

      A village that is neither here nor there.

      CHORUS

      In this imaginary time

      CHORUS

      and this imaginary village,

      CHORUS

      women are as men

      CHORUS

      and men are as women

      CHORUS

      We perform the same roles,

      CHORUS

      enjoy the same rights.

      CHORUS

      suffer the same burdens.

      CHORUS

      In this imaginary time

      CHORUS

      and this imaginary village,

      CHORUS

      truth floats like a mist on the sea,

      CHORUS

      and history is the driftwood of yesterday

      CHORUS

      washed up on the shores of today.

      CHORUS

      In this imaginary time

      CHORUS

      and this imaginary village,

      CHORUS

      the road to glory begins.

      CHORUS

      But we villagers have yet to set foot on that fateful path.

      CHORUS

      For the moment, our lives proceed as normal.

      Music ends.

      THOMAS (getting exasperated)

      You’re cutting it too high, Anna. Look at all the waste. What’s the steward going to say when he sees that? You need to swing lower. The way I showed you.

      CHORUS

      Thomas Cooper.

      CHORUS

      A kindly man.

      CHORUS

      But not the most patient.

      THOMAS

      I don’t see what’s so difficult about it… Give me the scythe. (He demonstrates.) Swing to the side… Down… And back… That’s all there is to it.

      Try again.

      CHORUS

      He’s been at it all morning.

      Anna tries again with the same lack of success.

      THOMAS

      To the side… Down… And back. Swing, Anna. Swing!

      ANNA

      To the side… Down… And back.

      CHORUS

      Anna Turner.

      CHORUS

      A determined young

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1