All Quiet on the
Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
Adapted for the stage by Robin
Kingsland
Education Resource Pack
Compiled by Sarah Stephenson
Contents:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Introduction to All Quiet on the Western Front/Themes/Cast/Set design
The Creative Team
Interview with Mark Dempsey
World War 1
Erich Maria Remarque
Written follow-up activities
Introduction
Paul Baumer is a butterfly collector – a dreamer abruptly cast into one of the greatest
nightmares in history. That he endures at all is down to the deep bonds of
comradeship forged in the trenches. Just as the brimstone butterfly thrives in the field
of battle, somehow the men keep one another’s sprits alive even amidst the horrors
of the Great War.
Cast
Paul McGreevy
Sara Poyzer
Jim Tomlinson
Simon Sanchez
Daniel Rabin
Robin Harvey Edwards
Marc Jordan
Mark Dempsey
Rachel Edwards
Daniel Rigby
Set design by Paul Brumner
Themes
Themes and issues to explore:
•
Horror and violence of war
•
Effect of war on the soldier
•
Friendships
•
Nationalism and patriotic idealism
in promoting war
•
Lies
•
Survival
•
Betrayal of the younger generation
by the older generation
•
Destruction of dreams
Giles Croft – Director
The
Creative
S
Team
P
Matthew Bugg –
Choreographer/Composer
How will the choreography in the
piece work?
The important thing is that we believe
in the character’s situation so the
choreography techniques should be
invisible. I will be working on the
tension in the actors’ bodies when
their characters are in certain fight or
flight situations.
I will also do a lot of work on body
weight in the death sequences, to
make these believable. The rest of
the story will work if these sequences
are done well.
Tell me about the exciting way in
which sound is being created.
The set itself will serve as a
percussion instrument. We have used
materials to build it that will aid thismetal, wood, grilles, corrugated items
and grids. The boxes that the actors
use in a multitude of ways have
acoustic properties that we can use.
There will be contact microphones
around the stage and when sound is
created near these we will control this
off stage by using reverb and
technology. It is important to create
and industrial and epic sound.
What drew you to direct ‘All Quiet on the Western
Front’?
I had always liked the film and original novel and I loved
Robin Kingsland’s adaptation, when he first brought it to me.
It is very relevant that the public should have the platform to
discuss the issues around the subject matter at this time. It
leads on from 1001 Nights Now and The Burial at Thebes
last season, which introduced these themes. On a personal
level I love directing plays with a strong storytelling element,
as this has.
Tell me about the style of the performance.
Much of the stimulus comes from Phil’s design of using
objects and parts of the set to create situations within the
storytelling. Having Matt on board with the rehearsal process
means we can explore the physical side of war and create
live sound. If the direction ends up how I see it in my mind it
will have the feel of a group of people telling stories around a
campfire. They all take on the role of other characters in their
stories.
What are some of the challenges in directing this
performance?
Keeping a unified style to the storytelling will be a challenge,
as will creating a close knit community between the soldiers,
as they would have had at the front. The actors changing
roles once their original character has been killed has
already been problematic during rehearsal, and Robin has
re-written sections of script to make changes in character
less confusing.
Phil Brunner – Designer
What were the influences for
your design ideas ?
I researched at the Imperial War
Museum, looking through
articles and photos. The main
influences were from the script
itself, which I noticed had a real storytelling element to it. The
set had to work around these stories and not represent every
scene literally. There were too many location changes to do
this anyway and massive set changes wouldn’t have worked.
What was your first idea?
I started with the idea of the train track, inspired by the idea
that the soldiers were taken away and had to travel to the
front. The overall ammunitions factory concept came later.
This idea is to symbolise the lack of control the soldiers had.
After talking to Giles we established that the soldiers were
already dead and telling their stories before they passed
over. The dark set colours and grids on the floor, that allow
smoke to come through, work well with this.
What else can we expect to see?
The numbering idea is prominent and important, as the
soldiers were identified by these. I have exaggerated this by
large numbering on the boxes and uniforms. All of the props
can be found around the set and again are symbolic in
nature rather than official war artefacts. These props link in
with the sound ideas.
The Cast
Interview with actor Mark Dempsey, who plays Paul Baumer
What research did you do in preparation
for the role?
Unfortunately there are very few people
still alive in our country that lived through
the first world war – but I did speak to my
grandparents about their parents’
experiences. I did research on pictures
of dead soldiers and other war stories
and I also researched the author, as the
character of Paul is largely autobiographical
of Remarque’s experiences.
What are the challenges of performing
the play?
It is a challenge taking on a role where the
themes of the play are so relevant to what is
happening now. ‘All Quiet’ is a timeless
comment on war, and with that comes the
responsibility to be truthful.
On a practical level, the fact I have a new
accent to learn presents a challenge. There
are also physical challenges as my character has to be present on stage throughout the
whole performance. There is a sequence where I have to carry the character of Kat for
some distance, which is tough.
The characters go through a lot of different emotions during
the play. Is this hard to reproduce on stage?
The play deals very skilfully with the emotions that Paul goes
through. In the sequence where the character returns home the
character is split into two, with another actor playing Paul. Here I
play ‘Soldier Paul’, a narrator that can comment on Paul’s
feelings at this point. This direct address is a moment where we
can see the anger that Paul has to suppress to survive life on
the front.
World War I
1914 – 1918
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, the War of the
Nations and the War to End All Wars, was a world conflict occurring from 1914 to
1918. The war was fought by the Allies on one side and the Central Powers on the
other. No previous conflict had mobilized so many soldiers or involved so many in
the field of battle. By its end, the war had become the second bloodiest conflict in
recorded history, though it was surpassed within a generation by World War II.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/world_war_1
Battles along the Western Front: 1915-1917
In each year of this gargantuan contest both sides mount offensives, usually more
costly to them than to the defenders. In 1915 the Germans move first, in April, in the
northwest section of the line near Ypres. In May the French retaliate further south,
between Lens and Arras. In the autumn the Allies launch twin campaigns, the British
in the north near Loos and the French in the southeastern part of the line around
Reims.
The first offensive of 1916 is a German thrust towards Verdun, a town behind the
Allied lines at the eastern end of the trenches. Beginning in February, the battle for
Verdun lasts for the rest of the year and severely stretches the resources of the
French defenders - commanded by Philippe Pétain, who becomes a national hero.
The pressure on Verdun is eased in July, when the Allies advance in the valley of
the Somme, in the centre of the line, in what becomes the most deadly single
engagement of the entire war. On the very first day 60,000 of the British troops
running forward from their trenches are mown down by enemy fire. Four months
later, when torrential rain brings the battle finally to an end with little gained, the
British have lost 420,000 men, the French 195,000 and the Germans more than
600,000.
Allied strategic plans are dislocated in March 1917
by a surprise German move. The line of trenches
has given the Germans a southwest bulge between
Arras and Reims. Deciding not to hold this, the
Germans now make an unexpected withdrawal.
They pull their troops back to a newly prepared line,
reinforced with a very effective innovation - concrete
pillboxes to house machine-guns. This defensive
barrier becomes known as the Hindenburg Line,
after the recently appointed German commander-inchief. The territory which has been abandoned is
left as a heavily mined wasteland.
By this stage of the war both French and Germans have learnt the value of taking a
defensive stance in this new form of warfare, but the British commander, Field Marshal
Haig, is still convinced that aggression must ultimately prevail. After attempting to
soften up the opposition with a bombardment of 4,500,000 shells, he launches on 31
July 1917 a massive attack from Ypres at the northern extremity of the line of trenches.
As so often previously in the war, three months of horror ends with nothing achieved.
The campaign lasts until early November, when a macabre last-ditch advance by
British and Canadian infantry, wading through knee-deep mud churned up by constant
bombardment in the autumn rain, results in the capture of a trivial but by now symbolic
prize – the village of Passchendaele. It stands just five miles from where the attack
began in July. Since then some 250,000 British soldiers have died.
There is one briefly effective campaign in late November 1917. A suitable terrain is
chosen near Cambrai for the first serious outing of a British innovation, the tank. These
strange vehicles achieve a rapid advance. But there are not enough infantry in support
to consolidate the gain.
www.bbc.co.uk/education/worldwar1
Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970)
A pseudonym for Erich Paul Remark (the
German name Kramer spelled backwards)
An interview from the state archives in
Osnabruck gives the reader some
understanding of Remarque’s reasons for
writing All Quiet on the Western Front. The
author states:
‘It was through… deliberate acts of selfanalysis that I found my way back to my war
experiences. I could observe a similar
phenomenon in many of my friends and
acquaintances. The shadow of war hung
over us, especially when we tried to shut our
minds to it. The very day this thought struck
me, I put pen to paper, without much in the
way of prior thought.’
www.cliffsnotes.com/wileyCDA/litnote/id6,pageNum-8.html
German writer, who became famous
with his novel IM WESTEN NICHTS
NEUES (tr. All Quiet on the Western
Front, 1929), which depicted the
horrors of war from the point of view
of the ordinary soldiers. In his works
Remarque focused largely on the
collapse of the old European world
and values. Although his later novels
also were successful, Remarque lived
in the shadow of his "big" first book.
In the 1930s Remarque's books were
banned in Germany by the
government. All Quiet on the Western
Front and The Road Back were
among the works consigned to be
publicly burnt in 1933 by the Nazis.
Stores were ordered to stop selling
his books.
www.kirjasto.sci.fi/remarque.htm
After the war
After mustering out on a medical discharge in 1918, Remarque suffered postwar trauma
and disillusionment, complicated by regret that his wounds ended his hopes for a career
as a concert pianist, and by grief over his mother’s death. For a time, he posed illegally
as a much-decorated first lieutenant, accompanied by Wolf, his shepherd dog.
Occasionally, Remarque dressed extravagantly and wore a monocle.
For the next ten years, he would cast about for a life’s work, but for now he settled into a
special veteran’s seminary, where he chaired a student association that rebelled against
the practice of treating war veterans like teenagers.
For more information about Erich Maria Remarque, see the following websites:
http://www.bv229.K12.us/commarts/books/caIIbooks/allquietwesternfront.htm
http://www.bookvags.com/shortguide-arch-of-triumph/
"It is just as much a matter of chance that I am still alive as that I might have been
hit. In a bomb-proof dug-out I may be smashed to atoms and in the open may
survive ten hours’ bombardment unscratched. No soldier outlives a thousand
chances. But every soldier believes in Chance and trusts his luck."
Key Facts
From All Quiet on the Western Front
Genres: War, historical references, point of social protest
KEY FACTS
Genres:
War, historical references, point of social protest
Time and place novel written:
Late 1920s, Berlin
Setting:
Late in World War 1, 1917-1918
Location:
The German/ French front
Protagonist:
Paul Baumer
Tone:
Paul’s views can be considered those of Remarque’s
Motifs:
Patriotism as an instrument of pressure; carnage
and gore; animal instinct as a tool of survival
during the war.
Symbols:
Kemmerich’s boots, which symbolise the
cheapness of human life in the war.
Pre- and post-show creative activities
Discuss it!
•
What is Paul like as a character? Has the brutality of war completely stripped
away his humanity, or does he retain elements of his old self?
•
Is war destroying Paul long before it kills him?
•
Discuss the rising and falling points of action within the play. (The group may find
that one of the rising points is the first time we see the group at the front, and one
of the falling points is when Paul kills the Tommy.)
•
Discuss the beautiful poetic language Paul uses to describe the battle scenes:
‘…The drifting flares turn the front as sharp and clear as day. The sky fills with
bursting stars. Red, blue, green…’ (Scene 6), compared with the graphic gore of
the injured: ‘His lips have fallen away. His teeth stick out like stubs of chalk. It’s
as if the flesh is melting. The skeleton working its way through. I wait. Hold his
hand.’ (Scene 4)
Write it!
•
Paul thinks he may, then decides not to, write a letter home to the soldier he kills
in the hole. Imagine you are Paul and you still do decide to write the letter.
•
Paul never tells the truth to Kemmerich’s mum about
the way in which her son died. Imagine you are Paul
and you finally want to tell her the truth. Write a letter
to Frau Kemmerich, revealing the truth.
Act it!
•
The war ages the boys before their time, turning
them into men. ‘Look at us. We’re old men. Nineteen
years old and as ancient as the earth’. Move from
the position of boy into old man in a series of moves.
•
Using physical theatre make images of objects of war as a group, out of your
body. Include a truck, barbed wire, crosses, a tank, an aeroplane, marching the
trench. Think about the transitions of moving from one image to the next and
maybe add music over the top to create an appropriate atmosphere. Consider
whether to shoot a young recruit that has been wounded. Thought track the ideas
going through the soldier’s heads when they discover him.
•
Do a sales pitch for a weapon or parts of bodies for a ‘shopping channel’. Include
dark humour or satire as you try to sell the items.
Research it!
Find out more about the First World War
and where the sections described in the
play fit into the whole picture.
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/worldwarone
This education resource pack can be accessed online at:
www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk