It is Remembrance Day. Let us take a moment of silence to remember the man that Stephen Haggard was.
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About the Original World War Two play: Interviewing Stephen Haggard:
Born March 21st, 1911 and killed in the line of in duty in February 1943, Interviewing Stephen Haggard invites its readers into the honest and most profound thoughts and viewpoints of a Father, a poet, an author, and a Soldier's memoir to his children, I'll Go to Bed at Noon: A Soldier's Letter's to His Sons, published 1940 in the Atlantic Journal. Here, his most poignant and candid of words are thoughtfully and respectfully reimagined in the form of a fictional Radio Interview with a fictional interviewer, in June of 1940. Taking nothing away from the real thoughts of the actual man called up to face the darkness of Hitler's Nazi regime, the play before you asks questions of which you may be compelled to answer: Will you remember Stephen Haggard and What does it mean to carry the weight of a legacy that has largely been forgotten by time? "And time, more time, give me more time!" Cries Fastidious.---The Story: Enter BBC journalist, Edith Thatcher, a young late twenty some American who finds herself caught in the crossfire of London on the verge of rationed food, chaos, evacuations, and bombings, in the summer of 1940; her task a simple one, following a grand performance of a play in New York in the early 30's, she wishes to find and interview the co-star of Ethel Barrymore's Whiteoaks, Mr. Stephen Haggard, a London local, and what a piece of luck at that.In a race against the clock; and with time running out, Mr. Haggard awaits his turn to be called to the frontlines for training, what might our ambitious interviewer find as she gets to know the charming and ever elusive, Stephen Haggard?---The Author would like to note that this is a work of fiction based on real words and letters left behind by a complicated personality, Stephen Haggard was not interviewed in actuality in the year 1940, Edith Thatcher is entirely fictitious, the settings and the characterization of some individuals, are inspired by real people, real places, and the interactions are based on surviving personalities from written literature of those who lived in such tumultuous times. With that, the meeting, the radio interview and subsequent situations, etc, is entirely fictitious and a product of the authors imagination.
Remembrance day Letter:
Dear Mr. Haggard.
Performed by Aaron Relf.
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Eulogy for Stephen Haggard:
Stephen Haggard was born in 1911. He was a journalist, a poet, a writer, a playwright, a brother, son, husband, father, and an actor.
Stephen was Born in Guatemala to an English officer and spent his life moving from place to place until at last his family found a home in England, where He would attend the private boarding school Haileybailey and further his acting education in Munich and Mannheim, ti then later graduate from the Royal academy of Drama where he was eventually a teacher.
He studied in Germany, he knew German literature and language, he knew and loved the people, and he did not take pleasure in being part of this war as his letters from “I’ll go to bed at noon” suggest. He detested the thought of killing, even going so far as to say he hated the thought of even shooting rabbits, which are vermin.
Before the war, he was in one Alfred Hitchcock film, Jamaica inn as The boy, and he played the sweetest and most cheerful take on Mozart in “Whom the Gods loved 1936,” although critics were harsh and he was said to be the reason that film failed because he was unknown and inexperienced. It’s too bad they thought so, it was quite the delight. If only he could see what a beautiful job he did and how precious his life was.
Stephen was in a handful of films and plays over his short lived life including the propaganda short, fear and Peter brown (1940), with his last official role being “The Young Mr. Pitt, which released in 1942, one year before his demise on the road to Cairo, Egypt where he sadly would lose his life at the age of thirty two. With the small handful of films that can still be seen, it is a fact that Stephen always took center stage with charm and humor, his passion and his bright smile were on display, and we remember his beautiful spirit. We salute his wartime service and remember not simply the man he forced himself to be on the front lines, but the man he was before the war. He was a sensitive spirit, a brilliant artist, a father who loved his children, sadly burdened and broken by the trials of wartime horrors.
His words, his poems and his letters, his stories, and his brief but quite remarkable acting career from the stage to the screen, are a testament to the loss of one’s humanity, during war time.
He was a fighter and for the future and the sake of his wife and children, died in the line of duty in Cairo, February 25th 1943 following a mental health breakdown.
We honor you, Stephen, and remember your charming character, your shy but gentle smile, and the courage in your heart to open that door to darkness in June of 1943, bravely facing the enemy as you did, from 1940 to 1943.
May we not forget the men who not only lost their lives on the field of battle, but to the war in their own minds. Stephen was one of these.
Remember him. And the many whom were lost to the war we forget are invisible to the naked eye.
AN ORIGINAL HISTORICAL FICTION PLAY BASED ON THE LIFE AND MEMOIR OF A FORGOTTEN WW2 ERA Poet, Actor, and Artist, Stephen H. A. Haggard.
Adapted for the script from Stephen Haggard's book: I'll go to bed at noon: a soldier's letters for his sons,
Directed and adapted by INDIE AUTHOR FAITH JACOBS:
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Born March 21st, 1911 and killed in the line of in duty in February 1943, Interviewing Stephen Haggard invites its readers into the honest and most profound thoughts and viewpoints of a Father, a poet, an author, and a Soldier's memoir to his children, I'll Go to Bed at Noon: A Soldier's Letter's to His Sons, published 1940 in the Atlantic Journal. Here, his most poignant and candid of words are thoughtfully and respectfully reimagined in the form of a fictional Radio Interview with a fictional interviewer, in June of 1940. Taking nothing away from the real thoughts of the actual man called up to face the darkness of Hitler's Nazi regime, the play before you asks questions of which you may be compelled to answer: Will you remember Stephen Haggard and What does it mean to carry the weight of a legacy that has largely been forgotten by time? "And time, more time, give me more time!" Cries Fastidious.
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The Story: Enter BBC journalist, Edith Thatcher, a young late twenty some American who finds herself caught in the crossfire of London on the verge of rationed food, chaos, evacuations, and bombings, in the summer of 1940; her task a simple one, following a grand performance of a play in New York in the early 30's, she wishes to find and interview the co-star of Ethel Barrymore's Whiteoaks, Mr. Stephen Haggard, a London local, and what a piece of luck at that.
In a race against the clock; and with time running out, Mr. Haggard awaits his turn to be called to the frontlines for training, what might our ambitious interviewer find as she gets to know the charming and ever elusive, Stephen Haggard?
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The Author would like to note that this is a work of fiction based on real words and letters left behind by a complicated personality, Stephen Haggard was not interviewed in actuality in the year 1940, Edith Thatcher is entirely fictitious, the settings and the characterization of some individuals, are inspired by real people, real places, and the interactions are based on surviving personalities from written literature of those who lived in such tumultuous times. With that, the meeting, the radio interview and subsequent situations, etc, is entirely fictitious and a product of the authors imagination.
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ACTORS:
Stephen Haggard: Aaron Relf
Christopher Hassall: Chadz Boden
Waiter 1: Emma Nicolau
Waitress 2: Darien H. Thompson
music and sound effects utilized via Bandlab,com and freesound.org
Buy the playbook here:
https://a.co/d/bM3hsMI
Ross K foad: as ChristopherAaron Relf as StephenEmma Nicolau as The waiterLou Carter as ThomasMusic: Jo Stafford "I remember you"Jo Stafford "La Vie en rose"1940's jazz piano Pa Pa PaBlue orchids 1940's jazz Jo Stafford "You belong to me" 1945Original scoring by faith jacobswritten and directed by Faith Jacobssound effects found via Freesound.orgStory: interviewing Mr. Haggard, A short audioplay prequel to Requiem for the lost.Stephen A. Hubert Haggard’s life was short but bright. His charm and his passion for acting shine through the few movies of his that can still be seen, however, No interviews from him exist. But what if he was interviewed by a rather curious American journalist living in London at the time of his draft into the war? How might it have been?
Playbook can be found and bought via Amazon.com:
CAST:
Aaron Relf as Stephen Haggard
Faith Jacobs as Edith Thatcher (the Interviewer)
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Born March 21st, 1911 and killed in the line of in duty in February 1943, Interviewing Stephen Haggard invites its readers into the honest and most profound thoughts and viewpoints of a Father, a poet, an author, and a Soldier's memoir to his children, I'll Go to Bed at Noon: A Soldier's Letter's to His Sons, published 1940 in the Atlantic Journal. Here, his most poignant and candid of words are thoughtfully and respectfully reimagined in the form of a fictional Radio Interview with a fictional interviewer, in June of 1940. Taking nothing away from the real thoughts of the actual man called up to face the darkness of Hitler's Nazi regime, the play before you asks questions of which you may be compelled to answer: Will you remember Stephen Haggard and What does it mean to carry the weight of a legacy that has largely been forgotten by time? "And time, more time, give me more time!" Cries Fastidious.---The Story: Enter BBC journalist, Edith Thatcher, a young late twenty some American who finds herself caught in the crossfire of London on the verge of rationed food, chaos, evacuations, and bombings, in the summer of 1940; her task a simple one, following a grand performance of a play in New York in the early 30's, she wishes to find and interview the co-star of Ethel Barrymore's Whiteoaks, Mr. Stephen Haggard, a London local, and what a piece of luck at that.In a race against the clock; and with time running out, Mr. Haggard awaits his turn to be called to the frontlines for training, what might our ambitious interviewer find as she gets to know the charming and ever elusive, Stephen Haggard?---The Author would like to note that this is a work of fiction based on real words and letters left behind by a complicated personality, Stephen Haggard was not interviewed in actuality in the year 1940, Edith Thatcher is entirely fictitious, the settings and the characterization of some individuals, are inspired by real people, real places, and the interactions are based on surviving personalities from written literature of those who lived in such tumultuous times. With that, the meeting, the radio interview and subsequent situations, etc, is entirely fictitious and a product of the authors imagination.
Born March 21st, 1911 and killed in the line of in duty in February 1943, Interviewing Stephen Haggard invites its readers into the honest and most profound thoughts and viewpoints of a Father, a poet, an author, and a Soldier's memoir to his children, I'll Go to Bed at Noon: A Soldier's Letter's to His Sons, published 1940 in the Atlantic Journal. Here, his most poignant and candid of words are thoughtfully and respectfully reimagined in the form of a fictional Radio Interview with a fictional interviewer, in June of 1940. Taking nothing away from the real thoughts of the actual man called up to face the darkness of Hitler's Nazi regime, the play before you asks questions of which you may be compelled to answer: Will you remember Stephen Haggard and What does it mean to carry the weight of a legacy that has largely been forgotten by time? "And time, more time, give me more time!" Cries Fastidious.
---
The Story: Enter BBC journalist, Edith Thatcher, a young late twenty some American who finds herself caught in the crossfire of London on the verge of rationed food, chaos, evacuations, and bombings, in the summer of 1940; her task a simple one, following a grand performance of a play in New York in the early 30's, she wishes to find and interview the co-star of Ethel Barrymore's Whiteoaks, Mr. Stephen Haggard, a London local, and what a piece of luck at that.
In a race against the clock; and with time running out, Mr. Haggard awaits his turn to be called to the frontlines for training, what might our ambitious interviewer find as she gets to know the charming and ever elusive, Stephen Haggard?
---
The Author would like to note that this is a work of fiction based on real words and letters left behind by a complicated personality, Stephen Haggard was not interviewed in actuality in the year 1940, Edith Thatcher is entirely fictitious, the settings and the characterization of some individuals, are inspired by real people, real places, and the interactions are based on surviving personalities from written literature of those who lived in such tumultuous times. With that, the meeting, the radio interview and subsequent situations, etc, is entirely fictitious and a product of the authors imagination.