Battle Not Begun: Munich 1938
Hitler wanted war. Chamberlain wanted peace.
Neither man got what he wanted.
Written by Jack Beatty
Three meetings in September 1938 between Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, and Hitler. The ostensible issue to be decided by their talks is the fate of the Sudetenland, the German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia. But much more is at stake. The Battle Not Begun is an imagined yet truthful portrayal of “Munich,” a world-historic matching of wits between leaders from different moral universes, one like us, one “radically other.” The play offers a fresh understanding of the historical roots of Hitler’s evil. In the shadow of the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, it asks us to weigh Hitler’s remark that, for the members of the Front Generation, the war didn’t end on November 11, 1918.
2022 Staged Reading
Thursday, March 10, 2022
Modern Theatre at Suffolk University · 525 Washington St, Boston, MA
Directed by Myriam Cyr
Produced by Punctuate4 Productions, Ford Hall Forum and The Suffolk University Department
Costume Design by Catherine Stramer
Boston Globe’s Critic’s Pick
The Battle Not Begun is as artistically absorbing as it is factually repellant. Under Myriam Cyr’s tight editing and sharp-eyed direction, the audience becomes a fly on the wall. An inventive film/theater/re-enactment hybrid, The Battle Not Begun sets its period mood from the outset. TV/movie-like credits roll over a 1938 tinted photo, slowly panned in a Ken Burns-esque manner.
—Theater Mirror
CAST
Hitler: Ken Bolden*(AEA)
Neville Chamberlain: Malcolm Ingram*(AEA)
Narrator: Steve Sacks*(AEA)
Talkback Guest: Chris Mauriello, Ph.D
*Member of Actor’s Equity
+Member of SAG-AFTRA
2020 Filmed Online Reading: Online World Premiere
September 3-6, 2020
Gloucester Stage · 267 Main St, Gloucester, MA
Directed by Myriam Cyr
Produced by Gloucester Stage Company at Online/Virtual Space, Christopher Griffith of the Never Dark Series, in collaboration with Punctuate4 Productions
Costume Design by Catherine Stramer
2020 Equity Staged Reading
February 6-9, 2020
Copley Society of Art · Boston, MA
Wenham Museum · Wenham, MA
Directed by Myriam Cyr
Produced by Suzan Redgate, Catherine Stramer, Patricia P. Jamison, the Copley Society of Art and the Wenham Museum
Costume Design by Catherine Stramer
Beatty delves into Hitler’s fascination with world war I, comparing him to a mad philosopher obsessed with death and devastation.
—The Boston Globe
A dazzling achievement. —Nelida Nassar Art and Culture Today
CAST
Adolf Hitler: Ken Bolden*+(AEA, SAG-AFTRA)
Neville Chamberlain: Malcolm Ingram*(AEA)
Narrator: John Manning*(AEA)
*Member of Actor’s Equity
+Member of SAG-AFTRA
2016 Equity Staged Reading, October
October 22, 2016
The Black Box Lab at Stage284 · 284 Bay Rd, Hamilton, MA
Directed by Myriam Cyr
Produced by Catherine Stramer and Patricia P. Jamison
CAST
Adolf Hitler: Jeremiah Kissell*+(AEA, SAG/AFTRA)
Neville Chamberlain/Winston Churchill: Brian Murray*+(AEA, SAG/AFTRA)
Eduard Daladier: Francis Hauert
George Bonnet/Hermann Goering: Mark Soucy*(AEA)
Lord Halifax: John Fogle
Benito Mussolini: Robert Orzalli
Count Galeazzo Ciano/William Shirer: Bill Mootos*+(AEA, SAG/AFTRA)
Edward R. Murrow: Mark Soucy*(AEA)
German General/British Cabinet Minister: Douglas Brendel
German General/Backbencher: William Shorr*(AEA)
Duff Cooper/British Cabinet Minister: John Manning
SS Officer/British Cabinet Minister: Bill Mootos*+(AEA, SAG/AFTRA)
*Member of Actor’s Equity
+Member of SAG-AFTRA
2016 Equity Staged Reading
March 5, 2016
The Black Box Lab at Stage284 · 284 Bay Rd, Hamilton, MA
Directed by Myriam Cyr
Produced by Patricia P. Jamison, Catherine Stramer and Myriam Cyr
CAST
Adolf Hitler: Ken Bolden*+(AEA, SAG/AFTRA)
Neville Chamberlain: Tony Bellerose
Eduard Daladier/Hermann Goering: Francis Hauert
George Bonnet/Count Ciano: John Budzyna
Winston Churchill/Lord Halifax: J.T. Turner*+(AEA,SAG/AFTRA)
Benito Mussolini: Ron Cook
William Shirer: William Gardiner*+(AEA, SAG-AFTRA)
Edward R Murrow: Mark Soucy*(AEA)
German General/British Cabinet Minister: Douglas Brendel
German General/Backbencher: William Shorr*(AEA)
Duff Cooper/Narrator: John Manning
Narrator: Will Bowry
*Member of Actor’s Equity
+Member of SAG-AFTRA
THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:
Jack Beatty