The Muddy Choir

It’s November 1917 and the Third Battle of Ypres is lurching towards its bloody conclusion. Young soldiers Will, Robbie and Jumbo are thrust into a landscape starkly different to the playing fields and estates of their Sunderland home.

When the trio’s singing causes a disturbance up the line they face unwelcome attention from their commanding officers. Is music their ticket away from the front, as Robbie dreams, or will the passion it brings about prove more dangerous than bullets and gas?

The Muddy Choir is a story about boys growing up and the humanising power of music. Commissioned and produced by Theatre Centre, the play has been written by Jesse Briton to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. The play, which includes period songs, tells the story of three young boys serving with the Durham Light Infantry in 1917.

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