Immortal

Synopsis

A Lancaster bomber crashes in Holland in 1942. The injured crew is forced to seek shelter in the basement of a deserted school, as the German army searches above them. The airmen survive with comradely humour, but as the cracks begin to show they must use all their initiative to preserve their sanity. Only by turning truth into legend can they face the horror of their situation. Originally performed under the name of The Legend of Squadron 463, this was voted into the top five of the Guardian People's Choice of Edinburgh Festival 2001. Researched with the Imperial War Museum and bomber veterans.

Our Review:

19 May 2006

A chaotic scrum at the box office and a 20-minute delay on press night hardly bode well for Immortal, the first show from newly-formed theatre company Imperial House Productions. Thankfully, things improved markedly once the audience - Hugh Dancy, Ewan McGregor and Richard O'Brien among them - were finally seated for Ciaran McConville's play, a well-crafted wartime yarn of pluck behind the lines.

It is 16 November 1943. Shot down over occupied Holland, the survivors of a downed Lancaster bomber - American skipper Cliff Blake (James Cook), wounded engineer Jonathan Darwin (Sam Hoare), Cockney gunner 'Dicky' Dixon (Brett Goldstein), bomb aimer 'Sprog' Campbell (Oliver J Hembrough) and navigator Arthur Gimby (Matthew Steer) - take refuge in an abandoned school. One of their number can't walk, consigning them all to a state of Beckettian inertia as they ponder their next move. A storm rages outside - or does it? No one is quite sure, suggesting...

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Latest User Review

213.78.159.204) - 29 May 2006:

I have to agree, it really was a wicked piece of theatre. So intense and funny and moving. Really recommended....

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