The Bench Production
This play was staged at Havant Arts Centre, East Street Havant - Bench Theatre's home since 1977.
Characters
| Winston Todd | David Penrose |
| George Moon | Simon Iggledon |
| Scatter Hargreaves | Peter Holding |
| Jim Boswell | Alan Jenkins |
| Norman Pike | David Hemsley-Brown |
| Buster | Gillian Lea |
| Louise | Jude Salmon |
| Mr Tate | Peter Corrigan |
| Inspector Mackie | Frank Lyons |
Crew
| Director | Jacquie Penrose |
| Stage Manager | Jo German |
| Assistant Stage Manager | Jude Salmon |
| Lighting Operation | Belinda Egginton |
| Sound | Vincent Adams |
| Costumes | Ruth Prior |
| Poster Design | Pete Woodward |
| Set Construction | Bill Bickers |
| Props | Tony Kellaway Lezley Picton |
Director's Notes
During the 1986 Playwriting competition, I read about sixty scripts of varying degrees of interest and competence. 'Todd's War' was about the fortieth. I picked it up at around midnight one night, thinking I'd take a look at just one more before going to bed, and it was the small hours before I finished it. By then, I knew not only that it was a winner, but that I very much wanted to direct it. I was caught by the strength of the language, by its sense of theatre, and by its immediacy; this is a play which vividly evokes life in the eighties - the shabbiness, disillusionment, and sense of wasted opportunities and potential. I admired its humour and the sharpness of its message: that war - and all its substitutes - is an outmoded and dangerous game and it's high time we grew out of it.
Working on a brand new play - helping to bring it to life for the very first time, is a uniquely exciting experience, and I am very grateful to have had the chance on this occasion. A production is always a team effort - between actors, director and stage crew. But without a good script the effort is pointless. Our work is demanding and rewarding, but essentially ephemeral, it is the words of the writer that live on, long after a particular production has been forgotten. I hope we have helped to launch this script on the road to a very long life.
Jacquie Penrose
Reviews
The NewsAnon
Review Headline
The intensity and insanity of a man gripped with a vision of revolution in the 1980s provides the theme for the latest production by Havant's Bench Theatre. 'Todd's War' is the first play ever penned by Southsea playwright Steve Farnfield, and it is both stimulating and intriguing.
Todd is a man fuelled by a futile ambition - to spark massive public disorder through football hooliganism and recreate a pure and primitive society. Backed by a confused collection of drop outs and criminals, he embarks on a doomed campaign which results in shocking violence and inevitable tragedy. The play, which is being staged at the Old Town Hall Arts Centre, is performed by a collection of talented and convincing Bench Theatre actors. The character of Todd is played by David Penrose, husband of the play's director Jacquie, and he masterfully develops the leader's growing insanity and ruthlessness.
Dry and witty humour punctuate the play's gradual increase in tension and action, and even in the most serious moments the writer manages to prompt a relieving laugh. "Todd's War" earned Mr. Farnfield £300 when it won the first prize in the Bench Theatre's international playwriting contest and the director is convinced it will earn him widespread recognition.
The News 8th May 1987
