Details

Winter. Somewhere between 1860 and 1880. A serjeant and three soldiers arrive in a strike-torn Northern mining town. They appear to be seeking recruits for the Queen's regiment. They are in fact deserters led by a man obsessed with awakening his countrymen to the futility and horror of war. Described by Arden as an 'un-historical parable', Serjeant Musgrave's Dance is a realistic drama written in verse and prose. The play is enriched with traditional Scottish, English and Irish folk-song airs. "The modern English theatre has had its poets and it has had its dramatists, but in John Arden it has acquired its first dramatic poet since - well, lets be rash - the days of Shakespeare" The Sunday Times

Creatives/Company

Author: John Arden
Company: Playing Up Theatre Company