Over the top

Touring to schools from October to December 2016

Summer 1916. 141 days of horror begin as the Battle of the Somme becomes one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history. In a crowded hospital near the front line a nurse scrubs the floor in the relentless war against infection and disease, but not all the wounds of war can be treated in this manner.

“It’s not the missing limbs that haunts you.
Its what’s missing behind the eyes, inside.”

The arrival of a new patient from yet another fruitless advance is a challenge to her inner strength and understanding of what she is fighting for. Over the Top is a story about the struggles of ordinary serving people at a time of crisis.

Over the Top is a new Theatre in Education programme for Year 7 upwards. Combining theatre performance and participatory drama workshops with your students it explores duty and equality, autonomy and freedom through the experiences of serving men and women.

For secondary schools Over the Top offers powerful opportunities for Citizenship, English, Drama, History, PSHE and RE, raising issues and asking profound questions about World War One at a time of deep social and political crisis.

Over the Top is Part three of ‘The End of Reason 1914-18’, a five year project by Big Brum that explores aspects of the First World War from outbreak to armistice. ‘Home Front Front Line’ toured to schools in 2014 and was followed by ‘Sepoy’s Salute’ in 2015.

“Big Brum produce consistently thought provoking theatre that encourages participants to question the world and their role within it. The centenary of World War One provides a time in which to question how conflict shapes the human experience; with children ideally placed at the centre of such a question.”

Tom Wise, Drama teacher

 “It is clear that the programme helped pupils gain an empathetic and personal connection with the past and the individual experience of those that lived through the First World War” 

Amanda Phipps, University of Exeter

To find out more about bringing ‘Over the Top’ to your school, please
contact Matt at Big Brum on 0121 749 2450 or email: matt@bigbrum.plus.com

http://www.bigbrum.org.uk/Programmes/overthetop.html