The 306: Day

The second part of Oliver Emanuel and Gareth William’s powerful new First World War trilogy exploring how the war affected women, families, and communities on the home front.

The 306: Day is the second part of Oliver Emanuel and Gareth William’s powerful new First World War trilogy, charting the heart-breaking journey of the 306 men executed for cowardice and desertion during the conflict and the devastating consequences for those they left behind. This second part in the trilogy explores how the war affected women, families, and communities on the home front.

The first part of the trilogy, The 306: Dawn, premiered in the summer of 2016 and was set around the events of the Battle of the Somme, marking the centenary of the Somme Offensive. Audaciously staged within a transformed barn in the Perthshire countryside, and co-produced with Perth Theatre and 14-18 NOW, the play charted the real-life stories of three soldiers fighting on the front line who were to be executed for their actions.

Inspired by real events and first-hand accounts, The 306: Day follows the lives of three ordinary women fighting to be heard above the clamour of World War 1. The date is 1917, and the war across the channel rages on. In Russia, a revolution is turning the social order on its head while at home in Britain, there are women fighting their own battles. Rents are rising. Food is scarce. And war work can be deadly.

Nellie Murray works at a Glasgow munitions factory but is also a member of the Women’s Peace Crusade.

Struggling to cope after the execution of her husband for cowardice, Gertrude Farr has a young daughter and doesn’t know where to turn.

Mrs Byers waits for news of her son. He ran off to join the army at the beginning of the war and she prays for word of his safe return.

The 306: Day is a new piece of music theatre about staying silent and speaking out, fighting for peace and giving into violence. It tells the forgotten story of three women in wartime and their struggle to survive in a world that won’t listen.

“(The) most brilliantly moving of elegies”– ***** The Herald on The 306: Dawn

“An indelibly powerful work of music theatre that will have an impact for many years to come”- **** The Scotsman on The 306: Dawn

Join the conversation: #The306

 

 

Gallery

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Reviews

“captures the sense of ordinary lives enduring extraordinary circumstances…contentious, rousing.”

The Guardian - Mark Fisher (read more)

“The music and song is sometimes almost overwhelming, the movement eloquent, the cast so fiercely committed to the story that they glow with a kind of angry incandescence.”

The Scotsman (read more)

“Jemima Levick’s production is a beautifully conceived construction.”

The Herald - Neil Cooper (read more)

“Intimate production that brings a vitality to stories of the women on the home front in the First World War.”

The Stage - Thom Dibdin (read more)

Blog

The National Theatre of Scotland, Perth Theatre, and Stellar Quines, in association with Red Note Ensemble, present The 306: Day. Written by Oliver Emanuel, composed by Gareth Williams, directed by Jemima Levick.

Creative Team

  • Writer: ["Oliver Emanuel", "Oliver Emanuel"]

    Oliver is an internationally award-winning playwright based in Glasgow. His previous work for the National Theatre of Scotland includes The 306: Dawn (14-18 NOW, Perth Theatre), Dragon (Vox Motus/ Tianjin People’s Arts Theatre, winner of Best Show for Children and Young People – UK Theatre Awards 2014), and The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish. Other theatre works include Titus (winner of the People’s Choice Victor Award at IPAY 2015), Prom (Oran Mor/Traverse/Lemon Tree), The Lost Things (Tortoise in a Nutshell), Spirit of Adventure (Oran Mor), Magpie Park (West Yorkshire Playhouse), and Man Across The Way. His recent radio work was a lead writer on Emile Zola: Blood, Sex & Money starring Glenda Jackson for BBC Radio 4. Oliver was writer in residence for BBC Radio 4 in 2010 and is a part-time Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of St Andrews.

  • Composer: ["Gareth Williams", "Gareth Williams"]

    Originally from Armagh, Gareth now lives and works as a composer in Glasgow.  His work has been featured in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, St. Magnus Festival, Sound Festival, 5:15, Tete a Tete Opera Festival, Sonorities, Opera to Go, and the York Late Music Festival. Prizes include the Dinah Wolf Prize for Composition, and his piece Search Engines was winner of the 2000 Great British Conservatoire Composers Forum. His music has been broadcast on BBC Scotland, BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Ulster, RTE Television, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, and CBC Radio 2 in Canada.  Currently, Gareth is Composer in Residence at Scottish Opera, where he has created two full length chamber operas – The Elephant Angel, with novelist Bernard MacLaverty, and Last One Out, with writer Johnny McKnight. He is currently creating a new piece for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, a new work for soprano and The Orchestra of Scottish Opera, and a new opera, with libretto by Canadian writer Anna Chatterton, based on D.H.Lawrence’s ‘The Rocking Horse Winner”.

  • Director: ["Jemima Levick", "Jemima Levick"]

    Jemima was appointed Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Stellar Quines in May 2016. Prior to that, she served as Artistic Director and as Associate Director at Dundee Rep Theatre for seven years. She trained at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and also on a Scottish Arts Council Director Traineeship. She has won and been nominated for a number of awards and directed more than 18 productions at the Rep, including Great Expectations, The Glass Menagerie, Time and the Conways, The Tempest, The Elephant Man and Beauty and the Beast. As a director and producer she has worked with a number of companies, including the Royal Lyceum Theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland, Perissology Theatre Productions, Borderline, Grid Iron Theatre Company, Traverse Theatre and Paines Plough. The Disappointed (BBC Radio Scotland). Her recent film works include Spores (Short Film Talent Network).

  • Costume and Set Design: ["Becky Minto", "Becky Minto"]

    Becky has designed a wide range of productions for main-house and touring productions, aerial and dance performances, and site-specific and large scale outdoor events. Her previous designs for the National Theatre of Scotland include The 306: Dawn, Granite, Truant, A Sheep Called Skye, Transform Fife, The Emperor’s New Kilt, The Recovery Position and Ignition, which, along with her design for the site-specific production White Gold (Iron- Oxide) was chosen for the exhibition Make Believe / UK Design for Performance at the Prague Quadrennial 2015 and the V&A Museum, London. The 306: Dawn has been selected as a finalist for The World Stage Design Exhibition in Taipei. Other theatre work includes designs for The Lyceum Edinburgh, Grid Iron, Visible Fictions, Vanishing Point, Dundee Rep, Fire Exit, 7:84, Walk the Plank, Upswing, Scottish Dance and Citizens Theatre. Becky was Associate Designer for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Recent productions include Out Of This World (Mark Murphy’s V-TOL), Coriolanus Vanishes (Fire Exit), Crude (Grid Iron), Hard Times and Para Handy for Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Future projects include Velvet Evening Séance (Ross MacKay), The Sunshine Ghost (Andy Cannon and Richard Lewis), Ramshackle House (Upswing) and Europe (Pitlochry Festival Theatre).

  • Musical Direction: ["Claire McKenzie", "Claire McKenzie"]

    Claire studied Composition and Musical Direction at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where she received the Patrons Prize for Composition from the Royal Schools of Music, the Stevenson Scholarship and the Paul Kelly Prize for Drama. Her previous work with the National Theatre of Scotland includes Roman Bridge. Her theatre credits include The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Iliad, Thon Man Moliere, Faith Healer, Hedda Gabler, The Venetian Twins, The BFG (The Lyceum, Edinburgh), Little Red and the Wolf (Dundee Rep/Noisemaker), Forest Boy (New York Musical Festival/Noisemaker, winner of the S&S Award for Best New Musical in Development), The Girl Who (Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, New York/Edinburgh Fringe), The Broons (Sell-a-Door), Hecuba, Mill Lavvies (Dundee Rep), Hayfever, Hansel and Gretel, After the End, Divided City, Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella (Citizens, Glasgow). Other credits include Composer for Botanic Lights 2015 and 2016 at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh, Composer for My First Spellbook (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), for which she was nominated for a BAFTA New Talent Award for Original Music. Along with writer Scott Gilmour, Claire co-founded the award-winning music theatre company, Noisemaker. Claire and Scott were recently named one of the New Voices of 2016 by LA-based NMI and Walt Disney Imagineering.

     

  • Lighting Design: ["Kate Bonney", "Kate Bonney"]

    Kate is an independent Lighting Designer based in Scotland, working both nationally and internationally. She has recently worked on a number of award-winning projects including Uncanny Valley (Borderline / Ayr Gaiety at Edinburgh International Science Festival, which won Best Production for Children and Young People at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS)), Cuckooed (Mark Thomas, which won a Fringe First and an Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award), Voice Thief (Catherine Wheels, which won Best Production for Children and Young People at the CATS) and Barely Methodical Troupe’s debut professional production Bromance which won a Total Theatre and Jackson’s Lane Award for Circus. Kate also designs lighting for events and has led the design for the award-winning Enchanted Forest in Highland Perthshire since 2013.

  • Choreographer: ["Vicki Manderson", "Vicki Manderson"]

    Vicki’s work as Movement Director includes a profoundly affectionate, passionate devotion to someone (-noun), The Children (Royal Court, London), See Me Now (Young Vic), The Tempest (Beijing Xinchan), Details (Grid Iron), Kidnapped (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), Housed (Old Vic New Voices), A Serious Case of the Fuckits, Loaded and I Do Believe in Monsters (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama).

    As Associate Movement Director, work includes The Twits (Royal Court, London), Let The Right One In (National Theatre of Scotland/Royal Court/West End), Black Watch, In Time o’ Strife (National Theatre of Scotland) and –The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (National Theatre of Great Britain/London’s West End).

    As a performer, Vicki’s theatre work includes Watership Down (Watermill Theatre), Light Boxes (Grid Iron Theatre), In Time o’ Strife, Knives In Hens (National Theatre Scotland), Beautiful Burnout (Frantic Assembly/National Theatre of Scotland), No Way Back (Frantic Assembly), Two Gentlemen of Verona (Royal and Derngate) and Dr Dee (English National Opera).

  • Directing Placement: ["Shilpa T-Hyland", "Shilpa T-Hyland"]

    Shilpa graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2014 and is currently directing on the Masters in Classical and Contemporary Text at the Royal Conservatoire Scotland. Her previous work with the National Theatre of Scotland includes Anything That Gives O Light (with The TEAM / Edinburgh International Festival) as a trainee director. She is the co- director of Modest Predicament with whom she has recently made a piece for young audiences, Erin, Errol and the Earth Creatures. Other previous work includes the site specific show for pub spaces: A Stranger Walks into a Bar, installation the Cabinet of Curiosities (Buzzcut Festival), and Spool (sponsored by The Institute for exploration in Theatre, Dance and Performance UC Davis).

Cast

  • ["Amanda Wilkin"]

    Recently Amanda performed in Hamlet with Shakespeare’s Globe, in a two-year international tour to every country in the world. Other theatre credits include: La Ronde (Bunker Theatre), Pilgrims (Theatre Clwyd/HighTide Festival/The Yard Theatre), Hamlet, Gabriel, The Tempest (Shakespeare’s Globe); Hopelessly Devoted (Paines Plough & Birmingham REP); Arabian Nights (Watermill Theatre); The Bacchae, Blood Wedding (Royal and Derngate); Marat/Sade, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC); Stamping, Shouting and Singing Home (Nuffield Theatre) and The Twits (Dukes Theatre). Television includes: Doctors (BBC1) and Gavin and Stacey (BBC3 & Baby Cow Productions).

  • ["Angela Hardie"]

    Angela trained at Queen Margaret University. Theatre credits include:  Killing Brando (Oran Mor); The Cherry Orchard, The Elephant Man, A Christmas Carol, Equus, Sweeney Todd: The Musical and Shetown (Dundee Rep); Bolted (Scottish Opera/Aberdeen Sound); Spring Awakening (Grid Iron/Traverse Theatre); Calum’s Road, Ten Tales for Small People (NTS/Communicado); Killing Me Softly (New Wolsey Theatre); Cinderella (Macrobert Theatre, Stirling); A Christmas Carol (Royal Lyceum Theatre); Little Red Hen (Finborough Theatre) and, most recently, Dead Dog in a Suitcase (Kneehigh  – National and International Tour). Television includes appearances include Case Histories (Ruby Films/BBC 1); Pram Face (Little Comet/BBC3); Sirens (Daybreak Pictures/Ch4) and Scottish Killers (STV). Radio credits include A Firm Hand (BBC Radio Scotland). Workshops include Performance Masterclass with Punchdrunk Creatives ’17; The Tin Drum (Kneehigh); Passing Places and Losing Venice (Traverse Theatre).

  • ["Dani Heron"]

    Dani trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). Recent theatre appearances include Jumpy (The Lyceum Edinburgh); The James Plays (National Theatre of Scotland); The Venetian Twins (The Lyceum Edinburgh); A Perfect Stroke (Oran Mor/Traverse Theatre); Chariots of Fire (West End); Aladdin (Eden Court Theatre); One Turbulent Ambassador (The Lyric Hammersmith); Merry Wives of Windsor (The Drill Hall, London); A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Greenwich Theatre); Television appearances include Casualty (BBC). Film appearances include Skin Deep; I Am Me; Rat Trap.

  • ["Fletcher Mathers"]

    Fletcher trained at the Royal Scottish Academy for Music & Drama (RSAMD). Theatre credits include To Begin (National Theatre of Scotland), Slice (Oran Mor/Gilded Balloon), The Bookie (Cumbernauld Theatre), Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Rapture Theatre), The Winter King (Tron/Limelight), Broken Glass (Rapture Theatre), Hamlet (Citizens Theatre), Macbeth (Mull Theatre), The Collection (Rapture Theatre), and Cinderella (Tron Theatre). Television credits include Shetland, City Lights, Dani’s House, Govan Ghost Story, Dr Finlay, and Taggart. Film credits include Do Not Disturb (2016).

  • ["Steven Miller"]

    Steven trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. His previous work with the National Theatre of Scotland includes lead roles in The James Plays and Black Watch. Other theatre credits include No Way Back, Othello (Frantic Assembly), The Perfect Murder (national tour), The Blood Is Strong (Finborough), Lord Of The Rings (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Fiddler On The Roof (Crucible, Sheffield), Long Short and Tall (Pleasance), Richard II (Old Vic), Cargo (Oval House) and Paradise Lost (Bristol Old Vic). His television credits include Casualty, Silent Witness, Father Brown, Coming Up, Our Girl, Holby City and The Bill. His film credits include A Christmas Carol, Drone Strike (short) and Twelfth Night. Steven is also a Motion Capture artist and a practitioner for Frantic Assembly theatre company.

  • ["Wendy Somerville"]

    Wendy trained at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh and the Royal Academy of Music, London. Theatre credits include Wicked Stepsister, Cinderella – London Palladium, Ensemble/cover Jenny Diver, The Threepenny Opera, National Theatre, Alternate Mrs Wilkinson, Billy Elliot London, Female Authority Figure/cover Velma Von Tussle, Hairspray (Shaftesbury Theatre, London and UK and Ireland Tour),  Ensemble/cover Mrs Lovett and Beggar Woman, Sweeney Todd (Chichester Festival and Adelphi Theatre, London),  Ensemble/cover Mme Thenardier, Les Misérables (Queen’s Theatre), Zenobia, Writer’s Cramp (rehearsed reading at Saint-Saëns Festival), Lady Macbeth, Macbeth (Bitesize Theatre). Television credits include Billy Elliot the Musical Live (2014), Classical Brit Awards 2011, Royal Variety Performance and 25th Anniversary Concert 2010 – Les Misérables, Windsor – The Queen’s Castle – Les Misérables, Royal Variety Performance 2007 – Hairspray. Recording and radio credits include Sweeney Todd London 2012 cast recording, Michael Ball Past and Present, Les Misérables 21st Birthday Concert (BBC Radio 2) Mermaid Theatre, London.

     

  • ["Robert Irvine - Cellist"]

    Robert studied with some of the nest cellists in the world and has held principal positions in the Philharmonia, Scottish Opera and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He was a founding member of the Brindisi Quartet, the Chamber Group of Scotland, the Da Vinci Trio and is currently Artistic Co-Director of Red Note Ensemble. Robert has recorded extensively including Complete Cello Works of Sally Beamish, Cello Works of Giles Swayne, ‘Tree o’ licht’ Solo Cello Works by William Sweeney, Rachmaninov/ Shostakovich: Sonatas For Cello And Piano with Graeme McNaught on piano, The Cellist of Sarajevo by David Wilde. His album Songs and Lullabies was released in September 2016 and features 19 new solo cello works and all proceeds go to UNICEF. Robert is a Senior Professor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He plays on a fine cello, a copy of a 1695 Rugeri made in 2014 by Melvyn Goldsmith and a fine bow by the Scottish maker Howard Green.

  • ["Laura McIntosh - Pianist"]

    Laura attended the Royal Academy of Music in London, specialising in accompaniment, duo, and chamber music repertoire. After receiving a scholarship, she studied with Iain Ledingham for two years, and received repetiteur training from Anthony Legge whilst working in the opera school on Mozart’s The Magic Flute. She completed her undergraduate studies with Jean Hutchison at the former Royal Scottish Academy for Music and Drama. Laura has worked for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, RSNO, NYCOS, NYOS and The Opera Bohemia, and has taught at Douglas Academy, The High School of Glasgow and the Junior Conservatoire. She currently works with Scottish Opera’s young company, Connect, where she is Head of Singing, and lecturing on the BA Musical Theatre at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she coaches ensemble singing, instrumental playing and actor-musician work.

Production Tour Dates

Touring across Scotland in May/June 2017, with opening performances in Perth.