Brian Peters and Dave Webberin The Widow's Uniform, Stag Theatre Sevenoaks England 1999-09-12 aud master cassettes

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Here is a review of the first night by folk historian Roy Palmer:-

The Widow's Uniform - Civic Hall, Stratford, 17/12/96

The Soldiers of the Queen (Victoria), together with the girls they left behind (or took along) feature in this ballad opera. The ballads, set to music by Peter Bellamy, are from Rudyard Kipling. They punctuate a play written by Paul Gregory in which the action shifts from fin de ciecle London to India and back. The core of the show is Kipling, whose words are admirably and passionately sung by a talented cast of folk performers. The play is much more than a mere vehicle for the songs. Its story of the under-valued foot soldiers of the high days of Empire may be familiar but it nevertheless grips the emotions and holds the attention of its audience.

Some of the military details are not quite right, and on the whole the singing is better than the acting. Even so, this is an engaging and thought-provoking production of genuine worth. It now embarks on an extended tour which will bring it back to the Midlands on several occasions. Kipling fans and folkies alike should make a point of seeing it.

I found this info by Sally Whytehead

The Widow's Uniform is a new project, a moving drama built around a score of Rudyard Kipling's soldiers' poems as set to traditional tunes by the late and very sorely lamented Peter Bellamy. The performers in the piece are singers acting - as in opera - rather than actors singing, and the cast is made up of some of the finest singers and players of traditional and roots music currently working.

The story follows a group of troopers and their friends and sweethearts over a two year period, during which they travel from India to Britain, then back to India to meet their fates. We get to know them through the eyes both of a cynical and none-too-scrupulous journalist and of a worldly-wise old soldier, and it is the tension between these two contrasting views of the soldiers, the Army - and indeed the world - that gives the piece its unique character.

Three interwoven strands

Widow's main purpose is to tell these people's story in words and - especially - music. Along the way, however, we deal with some of the social issues of the time, and with the attitudes of the 19th Century Establishment to the Empire and the Army.

A further strand of the production is an examination of the real attitudes of Kipling as displayed in his poems, as opposed to the conventional wisdom concerning those attitudes - racism, imperialist bigotry, etc. - which "wisdom" turns out to find surprisingly little support in the actual text.

However, these two subordinate themes are not permitted to interfere either with the narrative - a mainly sad tale, though frequently enlivened with humour - or with the songs, whose eloquence and superb settings rightly dominate the production.

Not simply a play with songs Such powerful and compelling songs and music could never be treated merely as interruptions in the drama - decorative items for which the story momentarily stops. On the contrary, they make essential contributions both to plot and to character development, and much of the story is carried in the singing.

This leads to a rich and compelling unity of words, action and music, all combining to maximise the dramatic impact of Widow's greatest asset - magnificent language brilliantly married to haunting traditional tunes.

The Widow's Uniform is an original and very important departure which has gained the enthusiasm and active support of some of the finest performers on the British music scene today, and which is already attracting great interest from the literary, folk and roots media. It is certain to be one of the most interesting, celebrated and widely discussed projects of the year.

The Players

[Note that players for a given performance are drawn from this pool. Male players will cover each other's roles - eg John O'Hagan may on occasion sing Ted - and one further male singer/ instrumentalist of very high standard will be recruited to complete coverage within the team. The cast is completed by two non-singing actors.]

Anni Fentiman (Sarah)
Fi Fraser (Molly)
Nancy Kerr (Molly)
Tom Lewis (Murphy)
John Morris (Morris)
John O'Hagan (Moncrief)
Brian Peters (Tommy/melodeon)
Elaine Samuels (Sarah)
Mick Tems (Tommy)
Dave Webber (Ted) - voice that sounds like a bleating sheep at times - quite a few times!!!

CD 1

01 The Widow At Windsor
02 Dialogue
03 Mandalay
04 Dialogue
05 A Soldier of the Queen
06 Dialogue
07 New love
08 Dialogue
09 Tommy
10 Shillin' a day
11 Dialogue
12 ?
13 Dialogue
14 ?
15 Dialogue
16 Back To The Army Again

CD 2

17 Tunes
18 Dialogue
19 All yer big seamen
20 Dialogue
21 Tunes
22 Dialogue
23 Ford At Kabul River
24 Dialogue
25 Drunk and resisting the guard
26 Dialogue
27 Danny Deever
28 Dialogue
29 ?
30 Dialogue
31 A Soldier of the Queen
32 Dialogue
33 ?
34 Dialogue
35 Songs/Follow me home
36 Recessional