Education Officer & Project Administrator
Project Administration, June - September 2006
Education Tour, August - November 2006
:: Ages, 11 - 18

In Autumn 2006, I worked as Education Officer and Project Administrator on Reeling and Writhing's tour, My Dark Sky.

The production told the harrowing true story of The White Rose, who were a group of young University students from Munich who protested against Hitler, the Nazi Regime and the Holocaust, through artistic and creative means. They wrote, printed, and distributed leaflets across Germany, organised secret meetings to discuss the banned music and art that inspired them, and defaced Nazi buildings with grafitti slogans such as "Down with Hitler", taking enormous risks to be the voice for those who could not speak up for themselves. Many of the young men in The White Rose had been enlisted for compulsory service in the Army, and had seen the true extent of the horror and despair of those who were persecuted. 

In 1943, the key members of the group were tried and swiftly executed by the government. The so-called People's Court imposed the death sentence on the following members:

Hans Scholl, Age 24
Sophie Scholl, Age 21
Christoph Probst, Age 23
Alexander Schmorell, Age 25
Willi Graf, Age 25
Professor Kurt Huber, Age 49

Other members of The White Rose were given severe and draconian punishments. Some of the German public were so incensed by the verdicts that they took up the message of The White Rose, painting "Their spirit lives on" across buildings at night, raising money for Professor Huber's destitute family, and distributing copies of previous leaflets. For this, Hans Leipelt was tried and executed in 1945 and his girlfriend, Marie-Luise Jahn, was sentenced to imprisonment in a maximum security prison for twelve years. Their sixth and final leaflet was smuggled to England via Scandinavia by a man called Helmut von Moltke, and in mid-1943 millions of copies were reproduced and dropped by Allied planes across Germany, now bearing the title "A German Leaflet, Manifesto of the Students of Munich."

The first public performance of the tour, 16th September 2006, coincided with what would have been Alexander's 89th Birthday. The tour was also marked by Hans' 88th Birthday, Christoph's 87th Birthday and the 63rd anniversary of Willi's execution.

In the post-show Education workshop we explored the issues raised in the play, using drama, discussion, art, poetry and creative writing to consider ideas of citizenship, individual and collective responsibility and the parallels that we can draw with current world events. I also assisted in the delivery of Continuing Professional Development sessions for Teachers.

The production and education programme toured to Glasgow, East Renfrewshire, Angus, Edinburgh, West Lothian, East Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway, engaging with over 3500 Pupils and 200 Teachers.