Epilogue - Season 1

When we began War Hall – A Theatre of the Mind, the political climate felt uncomfortably close to the 1930s. Nationalism was rising. Division was deepening. We found ourselves asking why we were tracing where the bombs fell during the Second World War while the present felt increasingly unstable.In this final chapter of Season 1, we return to Ken, who survived one of the worst V-2 bombings in London and lived through the rise of Mosley and the Blackshirts. Reflecting on Brexit and Europe’s fragile peace in 2019, his warning is grounded in memory: he has seen what happens when anger turns to division.There is no art that can redeem the horrors of war. Yet amid bombing and fear, people still fought to preserve beauty in acts of everyday defiance.Season 2 will follow the wartime concert timeline of Walthamstow Assembly Hall — the refugee musicians who performed there, the orchestras and dance bands who played while war raged.For Professor John Thomas, this project has taken on new urgency following a diagnosis of incurable metastatic prostate cancer. In tracing the Hall’s creation during the darkest hours of the war, he reflects on legacy and the responsibility to leave something lasting behind.War Hall is an independent production. If you would like to support Season 2, please consider joining our Patreon.War Hall is an independent production. If we ever make a profit, half will go to War Child, with the rest supporting our small team. If you’d like to help us make future episodes, you can join our Patreon — even the smallest contribution helps us pay artists fairly.Follow War Hall: A Theatre of the Mind wherever you get your podcasts, and please leave a review to help others find the show.Some clips are used under fair dealing and fair use for historical illustration.Music and sound design by Simon Mills.Produced by Alison Williams, Professor John Thomas, and Susie Williams. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.