War poet Wilfred Owen completed one of his most famous poems, Dulce et Decorum Est, while recuperating in Yorkshire from shell shock.
A mining tragedy in the county during his convalescence was also responsible for inspiring another of his feted works, The Miners, written while in Ripon before he was posted back to Northern France.
Ahead of this year’s Remembrance Week, the story of Owen and his poetry returns to Yorkshire in a musical tribute, Bullets and Daffodils, by singer songwriter Dean Johnson.
A new version of the show, which sets Owen’s words to music and incorporates specially-recorded narration by Christopher Timothy (who played James Herriott in All Creatures Great and Small) and actor Oliver Reed’s son Mark, is premiering at The Square Chapel in Halifax on Saturday, November 1.
Owen, who was killed in 1918 at the age of just 25, is widely regarded as the author of some of the most poignant English war poetry. His single volume of war poems was edited in 1920 by none other than fellow poet Siegfried Sassoon, whom he had met while a patient at the Craiglockhart War Hospital near Edinburgh – before his sojourn to Ripon.
Dean Johnson says he was inspired to write Bullets and Daffodils four years ago after being asked to pen a song celebrating the town of Birkenhead, where Owen was raised.
“His family heard about it,” said Dean, “and wanted to know if I had put any of Wilfred’s poems to music. I thought that by setting the poetry to contemporary music it can reach a wider audience.”
In fact, Dean’s interest in Owen began when he was a schoolboy. He explained: “I went to the Birkenhead Institute and he was an old boy. One of his books was in a glass case in the hallway, so every day you passed this memento.
“When I left school and became a singer songwriter I began to use words for my professional living and that made my mind wander back to those school days. I saw how devastatingly brilliant Owen’s work was.”
Bullets and Daffodils has been on tour for three years and stages schools performances. In this, the 100th commemorative year of WWI, it has struck a real chord with audiences and has been re-vamped for its continuing tour.
Bullets and Daffodils is told through the eyes of Wilfred’s mother Susan Owen, who is often thought of as cold and domineering. But in the light of a letter that recently came to light, it transpires that she had deeply held Christian beliefs and took in the daughter of a seriously ill neighbour. It was later discovered that the family, which had changed its name from Schmit to Smith, were German – an astonishing revelation in the light of her son’s experiences in the trenches.
Dean Johnson and his musical ensemble provide the music for the show, which is narrated and directed by Dean Sullivan (who played Jimmy Corkill in Brookside).
Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour has given special permission for his song There’s No Way Out of Here to be used and has waived the performance fee.
The show is being produced by Mal Robinson, whose grandmother was the godchild of Susan Owen (Wilfred’s mother).
Tickets for the show, priced from £11 to £13, are available from www.squarechapel.co.uk or 01422 349422.
