Hitler’s Ear

“Hitlers Ear” written by Malcolm Henty Adapted from the book of the same name by Terence Nunn a transcript of which is held in The Imperial War Museum London Hitlers Ear was adapted from a book written by Terence Nunn telling of his adventures as an evacuee in WW2. Having read the book Malcolm contacted Terence and asked if he could adapt this true story into a play for the Axmouth Childrens Theatre to perform. Terence very kindly agreed and along with his wife he made the journey down from London to attend the second show on the Saturday evening, receiving tremendous applause before giving a congratulatory speech to the children who had acted out his life story.

During his war years young Terence was evacuated three times and the play follows his travels and tribulations along the way. Firstly saw him in rural Wales which he hated, the presence of a bullying teenage girl Haulwen made his life an absolute misery. Having returned to London his mother decided it was too dangerous and shipped him off to Sussex where he had a better time but it did not meet his mothers expectations and he was again ferried off to another family in Wales for the duration of the war. The colourful language, costumes and old time songs made this a sure fire winner both with the cast who loved performing it and to the very enthusiastic audiences who clapped and sang along with much flag waving..

This show also taught the cast what it was like to be taken out of the comfort of the home environment and be taken off to stranger’s houses where sometimes they were welcomed but usually they were not! It was an education for everyone including the backstage crew.

The most rewarding thing was when Mr Nunn said “When Malcolm asked me if he could put my story into a play to be acted out on stage I thought he must be mad. But that was brilliant and certainly brought back a lot of memories for me”

The script is available to purchase for children’s theatre or school use, Please contact malcolm.henty@talk21.com.

Cast: James Williams, Callum Wood, Jack Harwood, Ayesha Keast, Bethany Wood, Devon Foster, Taylor West, Shelby West, Jessica Spiller, Ella Rapley, Victoria Herity. Narrated by Alex Hall