‘AT ALL COSTS’

Delville Wood, France, the Great War, July 1916 powerful piece of Solo Theatre by Peter Terry Directed by the internationally acclaimed theatre director, Janice Honeyman

It is 1970. An elderly man reluctantly returns to the place that gave him lifelong nightmares.

David Wells fought in the Battle of Delville Wood in 1916,

as a 19-year old lad, and the carnage he witnessed

led to his unsuccessful attempts to block the battle from his mind in the intervening 54 years.

Now he realises it is time to face his nightmares head-on, and he travels back to the Wood. 

Performance at Sappersrus Hartbeespoort

Saturday 9 July at 11h00

Bookings : ‘info@machbookings.co.za

Cost R100 per person

PETER TERRY

Having done painstaking research into the Battle,

Peter Terry incorporates many actual anecdotes and impressions as related by the men who were there,

as he explores what he calls the truth, rather than mere facts;

and in this 50-minute performance, the fictional character of David Wells

finds himself reliving the Battle in minute-by minute detail.

 Peter Terry is a 50-year veteran of the theatre and entertainment industry,

having spent nearly 30 years at the Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal,

later the State Theatre, before working mainly in television.

 He says it’s ironic that after all these years, he’s still best remembered as Nige from the CTM tile commercials.

“My only real claim to any fame,” he says with a smile.

 His interest in the First World War for over half a century has crystallised in this new play.

Having written a number of professionally produced plays in his career,

he says of At All Costs,

“I feel that my whole life has been leading up to this play and this performance.

I hope to share it with as many people as possible.”

 Reviews.

 In his review of the first performance of the play,

Arts journalist and critic Bruce Dennill writes:

 This is a play in which one man stands on stage, flanked by nothing more than a chair and a simple map of a location where thousands of men died to protect a conceptual, strategic idea of victory – at all costs. Nothing more than those simple props – and Terry’s excellent, passionate acting – is needed.

 Renowned historian and author Vincent Carruthers writes:

Like many other people, I know the story of Delville Wood quite well. I have read all about of the horror, the courage, the sacrifice and the stupidity, but I certainly have never felt the battle as I did last night. [The] play is a genuine contribution to understanding history and is, in my view, a masterpiece of both writing and performance.