The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning: NTW Press Release

16 March 2012

screenshot from ntw website

National Theatre Wales has issued a press release about its new production of Tim Price’s play. Here is an extract:

THE RADICALISATION OF BRADLEY MANNING by Tim Price. Dir. John E McGrath

To be the world’s first HYPERLINKED THEATRE PRODUCTION

NTW’s much anticipated political production, The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning, will be performed on two platforms – live on stage in schools across Wales, and in a live stream via an interactive website.

Written by Tim Price, and directed by the company’s artistic director, John E McGrath, this multi-media production tackles one of the most important political and digital stories of our age, and will bring that story to both local and global audiences.

Bradley Manning is the 24 year old soldier accused of releasing 250,000 secret embassy cables and military logs from the Iraq and Afghan wars. After nearly two years in prison without charge, Manning now faces a court martial, accused of crimes that could mean life in prison. But just a few years ago he was a teenager in west Wales. How did this happen? And who is responsible for his radicalisation?

Some performances of The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning will be live streamed on a dedicated website – nationaltheatrewales.org/bradleymanning . Alongside this live stream, the site will host hyperlinks to websites, videos and articles referred to in the script, and a live comment stream to which the audience will be encouraged to contribute. The site will be free to view and only available alongside the stage performance.

NTW calls this ‘hyperlinked theatre’ – a combination of a live online transmission of the performance, hyperlinks to background information, and an opportunity for the audience to interact through livechat.

This production marries NTW’s reputation for making pioneering multiplatform work with the extraordinary story of Bradley Manning, who spent much of his adolescence in Haverfordwest, west Wales. The production opens at Tasker Milward school, which Bradley attended in his teens.

Writer Tim Price’s theatre credits include: For Once (Pentabus, Hampstead Theatre and national tour) Salt Root and Roe (Donmar Warehouse, Trafalgar Studios, Demos (Traverse Theatre) Will and George shortlisted for the Verity Bargate Award of 2011, and Café Cariad (National Youth Theatre Wales). The Donmar Warehouse has been nominated for the Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for Salt Root and Roe.

Director John E McGrath is Artistic Director of National Theatre Wales. Previously Artistic Director of Contact Theatre, Manchester, john trained in New York, where he was also Associate Director of Mabou Mines. In 2005, he was awarded the NESTA Cultural Leadership Award. He directed NTW’s inaugural production A Good Night Out in The Valleys, in March 2010 and Love Steals Us From Loneliness in October 2010.

Cast includes Matthew Aubrey, Harry Ferrier, Gwawr Loader, Kyle Rees, Sion Danel Young and Anjana Vasan.

This play is a fictional account, which has been inspired by a true story. The incidents, characters and timelines have been changed for dramatic purposes. In some cases, fictitious characters and incidents have been added to the plot and the words are those imagined by the author. The play should not be understood as a biography or any other factual account.