One Evacuee - A Musical

Characters 12m, 12f, 1m/f +ensemble

Principals - Real Evacuees

• Mark – a son of a WWII evacuee (m)
• Derek – a WWII evacuee (m)
• Linda - a WWII evacuee (f)
• Peggy – a mother of a WWII evacuee (f)

Principals - Fictional Evacuees

• Jean (Jeanie) Eagle – one of the last to be evacuated from Bethnal Green, around 12 years old (f)
• Michael Eagle   – Jean's older brother (m)
• George Eagle - Jean's father (m)
• Ruby Eagle - Jean's mother (f)
• Susan Draper – Jean’s best friend in London, around 12 years old (f)
• Alfie Draper – Susan’s older brother (m)
• Major SamuelSamuel Johnson - Jean's first billets (m)
• Phyllis Johnson – Major Johnson’s wife (f)
• Harry Johnson – The Johnson’s son, a similar
  age to Jean (m)
• Tom Reid - Jean's second billets (m)
• Anne Reid – Tom Reid’s wife(f)
• Doreen Reid – The Reid’s daughter, around 12 years old (f)

Supporting Roles

• Newsreader (m/f)
• Entertainer Lenny - a singer in the shelter (m)
• Miss McKenzie – a schoolmistress (f)
• Enid Wakeman - an evacuee, around 12 years old (f)
• Mr Grimmer - a schoolmaster (m)
• Billeting Officer (m)
• Area Billeting Officer (m)
• Laura - Doreen's best friend, around 12 years old (f)
• Pat - Laura's evacuee, around 12 years old (f)

Brandoo’s Sisters, People in the Underground Station Shelter, Mums, Evacuees, School Children & Partygoers (m/f)

Drama Festival Adjudication "Stirring ensemble anthems, the wonderful Sweeping to Victory quartet and some lovely solos. The choreography added zest to the whole production. A musical with genuine triple threat."    

Debbie Morgan – Director "One Evacuee is everything I love about musical theatre and has a powerful message for the war-torn world we live in now… a story of family, love, friendship, loss, grief and a challenge to the way we rose-tint the past and memories we hold onto. It has fantastic characters, ensemble dance numbers, laughter, tears and beautiful songs with stunning melodies and rip-roaring showstoppers.  The show is fabulous for a vertical cast with adult and children’s roles, a fantastic way to make sure you use the experience of older performers, whilst inspiring and bringing-on younger ones.  The songs are beautiful. The harmonies sounded magical in the performance and pushed forward the ensemble singing of the cast. The mixture of genres, influences and melodies is a lot of fun. ‘Blackout Yer Winders’ was a great comic number with excellent opportunities for three strong vocalists. ‘Twelve Today’ with counterpoint child and adult melodies proved reminiscent of a Tim Minchin’s Matilda and the final song, ‘Eyes of a Child’ delivers the message with emotional intensity:
If the left and the right hand could be reconciled
If all quarrels could end in a kiss…
If…they…saw the despair
In the eyes of this child
There would be no more moments like this.
One Evacuee is a stunning musical that offers so much to performers and audiences alike. I whole-heartedly recommend any director to consider it for performance."                                                            
                                                                         
One Evacuee new version premiere at The Tobacco Factory, Bristol

Hugh David - Times Educational Supplement
"As interesting as the musicals central tale were the
experience of four evacuees interpolated into the script. Their recollections were vivid, honest and as characteristic of the period as taped windows and the
drone of air raid sirens. In fact the evocation of the era was so good that I spent the first act waiting for Vera Lynn’s entrance."   

Sue Richardson - Epping Gazette "The songs were all catchy and the large cast magnificently conjured the community spirit of wartime.  The plot sensitively explores how external circumstances can shape our lives and conveyed a powerful plea for peace in an
evening that was, above all, entertaining."

Tim Wood - Drama Teacher Marlborough House School "I found the experience very moving and in particular the effect the final song had on me, the audience and cast. It proved a profoundly poignant end to a deeply emotional evening; this was theatre at its best."                 

Mark Cook - Milton Keynes Gazette "I was enthralled by the production and was suitably moist eyed.  One Evacuee is one of the most enjoyable Musicals I have seen. A fantastic achievement." 

Mark Howell-Meri - Theatre Historian "On entering the theatre we saw old dustsheets covering the stage and a collection of 1940s bric-a-brac giving the impression its occupants had long moved on or died.  Songs seemed to come from World War 2 interspersed the performance and kept us absorbed and enthralled.  The production made clear that the separation felt by the evacuees might well have been equally as hurtful when they left their second families to return to London.  Mark Wheeller knows how to make quality theatre." 

Barbara Godwin - Southern Evening Echo
"This polished, well-performed production exuded
confidence and energy and the muted costumes and set were a delight to the eye. When the show ends, the poignancy is beautifully captured in the final song Eyes of a Child."                                                        

Robin Brown – Hampshire Chronicle "Loaded with nostalgic atmosphere, wartime spirit and heartbreak and with a well trained cast of over 50, the show pulsed with energy in sassy routines like the dancing Mrs Mops Sweeping to Victory.  The story of one little
girl’s evacuation from London was very moving and through my favourite song, The Eyes of a Child, showed how children were pushed around at the whim of adults and that evacuees were not always well treated by their hosts.  Director Dan Clarke chose this musical because he hoped that by understanding the plight of children all those years ago, they would better understand the plight still faced by refugee families, away from their homes and friends.

Adam Knight (Head of House Clevedon School)
"I just wanted to say how much Mum and I enjoyed last night’s performance of One Evacuee. It was brilliant! I was lost in time and fixed from beginning to end!"                                                       

Teacher at Clevedon School "One Evacuee was so moving and had so many important messages and emotional moments. I did not realise it was a musical, and if I had, probably would not have asked my husband to come, however, he thanked me for taking him and loved it!"  

Cath Wren (Parent from Clevedon School)
"WOW WOW WOW! Cried a lot throughout but smiled a lot too."        

Nimmy March (actress Coronation Street/ Emmerdale) "What an achievement, what an absolute triumph… great stage-craft… really impressive. Such a
wonderful and moving evening".     

U3A Southampton "The prospect of being packed into a small theatre on such a warm evening was not enticing. However, we were more than rewarded by a
scintillating and energetic performance stirring childhood memories of our own group and also served as a vivid history lesson to the cast's own peer group."                                                                            

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