Director Elizabeth Pow is dedicating the opera to its composer, the late Carl Davis, someone she considers herself privileged to have been able to call a friend.
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts. I just wrote Sussex Newspaper. It's
00:06lovely to speak again after quite some while to Elizabeth Powell. Now, Elizabeth, you are
00:10doing something very special indeed. You are directing a play for Holocaust Memorial Day
00:15in Chichester's Minerva Theatre. The play is The Last Train to Tomorrow, and you're
00:20saying it's so special, isn't it? The fact that you've got a cast of children, that you
00:25convey what being a refugee is, three children, two children. Why does that matter? Why is
00:31that the best approach?
00:32Well, thank you so much for having me. It's extremely special. The poignancy of this particular
00:40performance is that it's the 80th year anniversary of the liberation of Dachau and Auschwitz.
00:47And at the forefront of the children's history curriculums, we have learning about things
00:51like the Holocaust, like World War II, and like the Kindertransport movement. And at
00:57the moment, that's very much at the forefront of the political landscape we inhabit as well,
01:02what to do with refugees and how to treat them. It's very special to have local schools
01:09involved. We've got children from Bishop Loughborough High School, and we've got children from Prebendal
01:15Prep School joining us to sing this. And I think the main thing is the learning and teaching
01:21aspect. Chichester Remembers Holocaust Memorial Day is a committee of volunteers who joined
01:28together to fund projects such as this, and their main missive is education. So for something
01:33that's so close to my heart, the music of Carl Davis, someone who I was fortunate enough
01:38to call a friend before he recently passed away, I think this was part of his vision
01:45for the piece. This was part of his intention, was to allow children to not only learn and
01:51enjoy through music, but to understand the plight of others, whether it's historical,
01:57whether it's on the verge of happening again in real time in the current world that we
02:02inhabit. So the point of getting children to perform what is essentially a stunning
02:08piece of music with a live orchestra to other children and adults and members of our society
02:15is that we can start to re-humanise what it means to be a refugee and understand the plight
02:21of displaced peoples. And the fact that it's in Chichester and it's local to me, the fact
02:27that we can have local schools involved will be an absolutely special occasion. Carl Davis
02:32was local for quite some time to Celsi whilst his wife Jean Boat was working down here as
02:38well. So there's a real local connection. There'll be friends of his coming to attend.
02:43His daughter will be there as a special guest.
02:46He was a great man.
02:48Yeah, as I was saying, obviously he's American by birth, but living over here in the UK,
02:54you could tell that he'd found his people. He loved working with British singers, British
02:59musicians, and he really got the British sense of dry wit and sarcasm. He was so entertaining.
03:07He was lovely with children. And one of the main reasons that I adored working with him
03:13is because the minute you were in his company, you were his best friend. He couldn't do
03:17enough for you. And he was just so grateful to hear you sing and perform his music. He
03:23just gave you a good feeling every time you met him. And he really was a legend, an absolute
03:28legend.
03:29Well, the last train tomorrow, Lisa, you're directing in the Minerva at the end of January.
03:36Really lovely to speak to you again. Thank you.