‘The Graveyard of Clichés’ - British historical interventions in Afghanistan re-appraised
by Dr. Chris Tripodi of the Joint Services Command and Staff College
6pm, Wednesday 12 October
Tickets available from the DLI Museum: Adults - £4.50, Concession - £3.50, Child (4-16 years) - £2.50; Annual Pass holders: Adults - £2.50, Concession - £2.00, Child (4-16 years) - £1.50
This talk will focus on Britain's historical engagements in Afghanistan, putting forward the theory that, rather than being the disastrous and humiliating escapades that we have been led to believe, they were in fact strategically successful and an illustration in some respects of very clear thinking on the part of policymakers. Afghanistan, therefore, is not so much the 'Graveyard of Empires' but the 'Graveyard of Clichés' in respect to British engagements there in the past.
Six Weeks - the short and gallant life of the British Officer in the First World War
by John Lewis-Stempel
2pm, Saturday 15th October
Tickets available from the DLI Museum (normal admission also applies): Adults - £4.50, Concession - £3.50, Child (4-16 years) - £2.50; Annual Pass holders: Adults - £2.50, Concession - £2.00, Child (4-16 years) - £1.50
Pacifist poet, hooray henry… both stereotypes of the junior officer in the First World War. Based on the speaker's new book, this talk goes beyond the cliches to see what motivated young men to selflessly serve and how their brief but brillian lives helped secure Britain's eventual victory.
Afgantsy
by Sir Rodric Braithwaite
6pm, Monday 17 October
Tickets: £8/£6 (concessions/Festival Friends) and should be booked through the Gala Theatre box office on 0191 332 4041 or via their website at www.galadurham.co.uk
As a former Ambassador to Moscow, Rodric Braithwaite brings a unique insight into a story obscured by Cold War propaganda and the myths of the ‘great game’. For his book, Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979-1989 he spent seven years talking to those who had served in Afghanistan and returned. His previous work includes Moscow 1941: A City and its People at War.
Wounded - play by Carina Rodney
6.30pm, Wednesday 19 October
Tickets: £6/£4 (concessions/Festival Friends) and should be booked through the Gala Theatre box office on 0191 332 4041 or via their website at www.galadurham.co.uk
A damaged soldier returns from Iraq to face the realities of the life he left behind. Betrayed by both his closest friends and struggling to adjust back to life at home he reawakens a strange relationship with a neighbour. In this evocative new play the writer explores both the desire to serve and the difficulties of returning home. Carina Rodney is the author of Pub Quiz and is currently writing a new play that will tour the North East in 2012. Wounded will be performed as a script-in-hand performance and is directed by Tess Denman-Cleaver.
Leading from the Front
by General Lord Richard Dannatt
10.30am, Friday 21 October
Tickets: £8/£6 (concessions/Festival Friends) and should be booked through the Gala Theatre box office on 0191 332 4041 or via their website at www.galadurham.co.uk
Leading from the Front is Lord Richard Dannatt’s fascinating reflection on a life of military service that has seen him serve in many different theatres of conflict from Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Kosovo to Iraq and Afghanistan. As Chief of the General Staff, he was in overall command of the British army for the three years from 2006. This period saw some of the fiercest fighting yet in Afghanistan, and new and increased pressures and expectation placed on the army. More than any leader in recent times, Dannatt has used his position of command to argue for improved pay and conditions for British soldiers, a greater dialogue between the army and the country, the right equipment for the troops to do the job asked of them, and greater welfare and support back home for the wounded.
The Quick and the Dead
by Richard van Emden
2pm, Saturday 19 November
Tickets available from the DLI Museum (normal admission also applies): Adults - £4.50, Concession - £3.50, Child (4-16 years) - £2.50; Annual Pass holders: Adults - £2.50, Concession - £2.00, Child (4-16 years) - £1.50
In no conflict before or since the Great War have so many British soldiers marched off to the front never to be seen again. They left behind grieving families for whom closure took years, decades, even a lifetime. Historian and documentary maker Richard van Emden talks about his new book, The Quick and the Dead, which examines the effect of that conflict on the men who went to war and on the families of the fallen.
Afghanistan in British and American strategic relationships
by Professor Greg Kennedy of the Joint Services Command and Staff College
6pm, Monday 21 November
Tickets available from the DLI Museum: Adults - £4.50, Concession - £3.50, Child (4-16 years) - £2.50; Annual Pass holders: Adults - £2.50, Concession - £2.00, Child (4-16 years) - £1.50
In his talk, Professor Kennedy will analyze the impact of the Afghanistan campaign on the British and American armed forces at the strategic level, the lessons learned, the impact of the cost of war on the two nation’s societies and the consequences for future involvement in such operations. He will also look at how the campaign has brought the two militaries closer, or introduced frictions between them.
The usual and Courageous Restraint programmes continue in December and into 2012 - details coming soon at www.durham.gov.uk/dli and the printed leaflets...
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