FORTHCOMING TOUR BOMB HAPPY #DDAY80:

To commemorate the 80th Anniversary of D-Day :

Ist June 2024 Helmsley Arts Centre

and 28th June at Shepherds Hall Tea Rooms, Lealholm.

In the Footsteps of Hank Haydock; A Walk in the Park. A short site specific film telling the story of Coldstream Guardsman, Dennis “Hank” Haydock. From his time in a tank training camp in Duncombe Park, North Yorkshire to VE Day, this unique theatre experience, inspired by his written memoirs, interweaves verbatim monologues to bring Hank’s powerful first-hand experiences vividly to life in the actual place where he was stationed just prior to the D-Day Landings.

Sleep/Re-Live/ Wake/ Repeat : A live spoken word with song curation performed by playwright Helena Fox and vocalist Natasha Jones, interweaving the first hand D-Day testimonies of infantryman Ken “Smudger” Smith with haunting acapella vocals and set against a backdrop of still image photographs of the Middle East taken by Smudger during WW2.

“Verbatim Theatre at it’s best” ★★★★★ – Broadway Baby

POST SHOW : “MEET A D-DAY VETERAN Q&A” with Ken “Cookey” Cooke tbc.

PREMIERE: June 1st 2024 Helmsley Arts Centre 7.30pm

BOOK TICKETS HERE: For Helmsley Arts Centre.

Additional dates: June 28th 2024 Shepherds Hall Tearooms, Lealholm, 7pm.

Please call Shepherds Hall Tearooms on 01947 897011 or shepherdshall2022@gmail.com

To book this double bill at your venue (each can be booked as a standalone event where required) please email everwitch@outlook.com

Ken “Smudger” Smith on the road to Nazareth, from Veteran’s private collection.

Reviews for: Site Specific Performance of “In the Footsteps of Hank Haydock; A Walk in the Park” June 2021.

“Brilliantly designed and scripted by Helena Fox, and excellently performed by George Stagnell and Esme Schofield. If you were not one of the “fortunate forty” to have the privilege of seeing their “Performed Walk” in Duncombe Park – you missed a treat!” The Helmsley Archive

  • “Hank Haydock” by Jay Sillence
  • Dennis ‘Hank’ Haydock

Reviews for Bomb Happy

 ” This really is a must-see play, which will stay with you forever.” ★★★★★ – Paul Reed, BBC Historian,

“…a powerful sense of immediacy and involvement” ★★★★★ Broadway Baby

Performed by GEORGE STAGNELL (BOMB HAPPY, Private Peaceful )

Review: ★★★★★ “Stagnell skilfully takes charge and It’s impossible to take your eyes from him….haunting performance”(Edinburgh Festival Magazine for Private Peaceful, Pick Me Up Theatre.)

Production Trainee– Esme Schofield.

Funded through Ryedale District Council’s Small Arts Grants.

Produced in partnership with Helmsley Arts Centre & Duncombe Park.