Thanks so much to everyone who came to see Abandoned Brothers last month at Chapter. It has been a rollercoaster of a journey. We have been humbled by the determination and strength of the veterans and family members we met along the way. The stories in the final performance were just a fraction of what we have heard over the past three months. We have listened, laughed, cried, at times wondered where it was all going, but what drove this project on was the insistence of our group that theirs is a story which needs to be told. The moment of hearing those stories shared with an audience was really something. Our group didn't want to take a bow at the end, but they stood there on the stage and had standing ovations 2 nights running. After so many dark nights of feeling alone with their pain and thinking that society didn't care, here was a crowd of strangers applauding them on their feet and baring witness to their stories.
We're all now pretty exhausted but also excited by the response to the show. Here is a review written by a Young Critic, National Theatre Wales Community:
http://community.nationaltheatrewales.org/profiles/blogs/young-critic-s-response-re-live-abandoned-brother