An Evening with Rudyard Kipling Starring Robert Hardy 7.30pm Saturday 28th November The Memorial Hall, Marlborough College, Wilts SN8 1PA “What comfort can I find?” was the anguished question asked by the writer Rudyard Kipling after the death of his only son Jack at the Battle of Loos, a hundred years ago in the autumn of 1915. Kipling provided his own brutally realistic answer – “none this tide, nor any tide”. Kipling responded to his loss by becoming the unofficial voice of the people of Britain and its Empire. He wrote many of the words by which we now remember the dead of the Great War – striking phrases such as “Lest we forget” and “A Soldier of the Great War Known unto God.”

An Evening with Rudyard Kipling is a brand new stage production, telling the story of Kipling’s life with readings from his poetry and prose, and music from acclaimed band Head North. It takes Kipling from his early days as the chronicler of Britain’s Indian Raj, through to his high point as poet of Empire for Edwardian England and as voice of the nation in the First World War. The show includes many Kipling favourites - “If”, regularly voted Britain’s favourite poem, “Recessional”, “The White Man’s Burden”, “Tommy” and extracts from Plain Tales from the Hills and the Just So stories, and a superb song version of Kipling’s poem “My Boy Jack” specially written by Rob Sword of Head North.

The evening is in aid of The Not Forgotten Association, a unique national tri-service charity which provides entertainment, leisure and recreation for the serving wounded, injured or sick and for ex-service men & women with disabilities.

The distinguished cast is led by Robert Hardy (All Creatures Great and Small, The Wilderness Years), Sarah Parish (Peak Practice, Cutting It, Mistresses, Hearts and Bones, Monroe, W1A, Atlantis) and James Murray (Northsquare, Clocking Off, Sons and Lovers, Primeval, Under the Greenwood Tree, Miss Marple). Broadcaster and former BBC and TVS presenter Khalid Aziz is the narrator.

For tickets (£15) http://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-with-rudyard-kipling-tickets-18684778676 (Press Control + click on link)