Sunday 16 November 2008

Come the revolution, comrade...

I've been watching, as I guess we all have, the programmes and events surrounding the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War. It's all been very moving, but I can't help but wonder at the futility of it all, how it's always the little man who suffers. Left to their own devices, the soldiers on the ground managed to arrange a football match. Apparently the Germans won. Again.

This time last year we presented my Henry V - Lion of England at Brighton. When I was adapting Shakespeare's story in 1992, about an invasion of France, I was listening to the news about the war in Bosnia. It never ends, does it. That's why last year, at Brighton, I had Ed, our Henry actor, pin a poppy on his costume, as he gives the final lines. "... think on our tale, look at the world and muse, How little, little mankind has grown, and how much we still all have to lose." There was a palpable gasp from the audience.

And talking of a world fit for heroes, how come I can't find an NHS dentist in West London? I thought we had a Labour government. Come on politicians, this isn't good enough. You can lead a country to war, but can't arrange for me to have a loose crown fixed without it costing me a fortune.A hero - Ed Morris in Henry V - Lion of England. By... er... me.