2005: Season Fourteen

an eccentric comedy about love & survival by C.P. Taylor

And a Nightingale Sang is populated by the Stott family and the two young men who are drawn into the family's orbit by its daughters. These are ordinary Northumberlanders whose day to day existence is shaken and transformed by the events of World War II. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where the Stotts live, is an important and sizable sea port and industrial city located on the Northeast coast of England. As such, it was a serious target of Hitler's air force, the Luftwaffe. In his efforts to crush Great Britain, Hitler wanted very much to knock out her shipbuilding and heavy engineering capabilities as well as her ability to export coal, iron, and steel.

Today we know that Hitler failed to fulfill his maniacal vision. But on 3 September 1939, the day the play opens, the Stotts weren't so sure of the conflict's outcome. Yet, this hearty little family, with all its eccentricities and cross purposes continues for the next five years to sustain itself through a quirky kind of faith and love. Helen Stott, the elder of the two daughters, takes us on a guided tour of this time and place and gives a surprisingly intimate, funny and immediate insight into the survival of sanity and sanctity in the midst of international madness.

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mar/apr 2005
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