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Trench Brothers

Two actors stand dressed in soldier uniforms, surrounded by school children

Trench Brothers was a heritage, puppetry and music project for primary school children, which explores the histories of ethnic minority soldiers who fought for the UK in the First World War. HMDT Music’s project offers participating schools up to a term’s-worth of work that is fully integrated in to the curriculum and which includes a series of workshops with professional artists. The project builds to a performance of a new music theatre piece by Julian Joseph and Richard Taylor bringing all elements of the workshops together.

Lichfield Festival and HMDT Music, in partnership with the National Memorial Arboretum brought the Trench Brothers project to Staffordshire for the first time. This was the only performance of this project within the Midlands area and for the first time in the project’s history, the final performance did not take place in individual schools but at the National Memorial Arboretum itself.

The Lichfield Festival worked with a range of schools from across Staffordshire, to foster cross-cultural awareness and in hope of developing long-lasting links between them.