Aviatrix & Haw Haw: The war plays

The Second World War created many paradoxes - and many people found themselves in novel situations. These two plays tell the story of some of the people whose lives were changed forever by the currents of war.

Aviatrix
Britain was fighting for its life - and the only way the fight could continue was in the air!

Desperate for pilots to ferry aircraft from the factories to the RAF bases, the War Office recruited anyone who could fly a plane - amateur pilots, former World War One men who hadn't been in a cockpit in over twenty years, airline pilots who had never flown a military plane. But there was one resource they were reluctant to use.

Women.

Haw Haw: A Very British Betrayal

Standing up against fascism - or standing up for the right of law?

That's the dilemma facing Gerald Slade in this play about the trial and punishment of William Joyce, better known as Lord Haw-Haw. Joyce undoubtedly broadcast Nazi propaganda, and was tried for treason. Yet every accused person deserves a fair trial, whatever the charge - otherwise we are no better than the fascists ourselves. Slade, a decent man who hates fascists but believes in the law, has to tread a fine line with the charming, cynical, urbane, but ultimately deeply odious Joyce.

"Haw Haw" is a story of betrayal, and of the right to be tried according to the law: it is a story that resonates in our post-truth 21st century.