The vital role a wide range of performers had in helping both troops and civilians in WWI will fall under the spotlight at a conference at the University.
The conference, at the Canterbury campus from 27-29 April, will explore a variety of performance cultures on the home and fighting fronts and in all theatres of war during 1914-1918.
Organised by Gateways to the First World War, a centre for public engagement with the Great War centenary funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the event is open to anyone looking to extend the breadth and depth of their knowledge in this fascinating area.
From the popular to elite, amateur to professional, a wide range of performers had a significant impact on the fighting spirit of servicemen and civilians in all combatant countries. Yet this vital area of the conflict has yet to be subject to in-depth academic attention.
The conference will feature keynote lecture-performances by writer, composer and silent film accompanist Neil Brand and Dr Kate Kennedy, Research Fellow in English and Music at Girton College Cambridge.
The conference will include a performance of Friend or Foe? Voices of World War One at the Gulbenkian Theatre and a screening of Charlie Chaplin’s The Vagabond (1916).
A combination of keynote talks, panel sessions, workshops and performances will feature work on a broad range of wartime subjects including music, music hall, theatre, cinema and dance.