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fathering children with their surveillance targets and other great national scandals for other families to begin to comprehend what test veteran families have always known – that things may not always be as they seem, they may not be right, or just, or above board. And very often they aren’t.
Growing up with that as accepted fact leaves its mark. For me, the fact was so accepted to the point that it was, as I said, a bit boring.
After Dad died in 2005, we needed space from all things Christmas Island. As a family, we had seen so much time and effort go into the BNTVA fight with seemingly little in return. Years went by before my thoughts turned back to the
injustice of it and I just couldn’t let
it lie. I am angry for Dad and for all the men who never received an apology in their lifetimes and for our families who have suffered. It’s not just about ill health, it’s about how these events have permanently altered our families and our entire relationship with the world we live in. I took my anger and started writing.
Facts are important. If you don’t get your facts straight, you undermine your argument. I learned this from Dad, he was scrupulous about facts. Many a time I experienced a scorching from those steel-blue eyes when I didn’t have my facts in order.
With no further correspondence from the BNTVA, I tracked down Alan Rimmer, the original journalist
who broke the nuclear test veteran story, the first International journalist on the scene after the Chernobyl disaster and another recognisable name from my childhood.
As a knowledgeable source from the time, I asked if he would fact-check the play for me. His only suggested change was, National Radiological Protection Board is a bit of a mouthful to say on stage...may be just call it a specialist survey? He had a good point!
Alan re-introduced me to Ken McGinley and we spoke once again on the telephone. Such a pleasure to hear that unmistakable voice from my childhood, when I would answer the family landline and go to fetch Dad. We laughed at how his daughter and I shared the same complaint: That we could never get a look-in on the telephone to call our friends.
But with the BNTVA rejection I’d temporarily lost heart. And the play floundered.
Thankfully another trait of the ‘permanently wedged-open door- way’ phenomenon is not necessarily a bad one – it’s that of defiance.
A large dollop of, To thine own self be true (Shakespeare) with a sizeable side portion of Stuff you, I’ll do it anyway (not Shakespeare).
And Dad never gave up, so why should I?
Covid lockdown returned my thoughts to the discarded play and
afforded the time for a complete rewrite. A brand-new story emerged about a fictional test veteran family, which in the end, makes for far better play than its earlier sibling
- so all’s well that ends well. It’s a story that will resonate with some more than others, as our experiences and backgrounds and opinions differ - and that’s okay, because another great aim of theatre is not to present absolutes but to ask questions. Questions that foster discourse.
And I hope this discourse will in a small way help to bring an awareness of our collective cause to a new audience. Regardless of our politics or where we all sit in terms of the rights and wrongs of nuclear proliferation and all the other divisive topics of today - what the government did, has done and is continuing to do to the nuclear test veterans and us, their families, is quite simply wrong. That’s the story. All of us. Our story. And boring it certainly isn’t.
GUINEA PIGS is currently in pre-production with plans for a short London run at The Space on 4th - 8th October to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Operation Hurricane, with one show live- streamed worldwide plus a post-show talk-back. We also hope to organise some community engagement activities off the back of the play, followed by a longer London run and UK tour in 2023. Wish us luck!
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CAMPAIGN SPRING 2022