Asunder

“…and then all the world began to roar.” Using archive and contemporary footage and audio, Asunder reveals the stories of people from Tyneside and Wearside to uncover just what life was like on the home front – with bombs falling on Britain for the first time, conscientious objectors sentenced to death, and women working as doctors, tram conductors and footballers, some of them (God forbid) wearing trousers. Moving from the pre-war Edwardian golden era when cricket, football, and rugby boomed, and aeroplanes and cars pointed to a bright new future – only to see this progress horrifically reverse through the early years of the war. This culminated in the Battle of the Somme when on 1 July 1916 British, French and German forces began one of the most traumatic battles in military history. Over the course of just four months, more than one million soldiers were captured, wounded or killed in the Battle, a confrontation of unimaginable horror. Asunder will commemorate 100 years since the Somme. A film by Esther Johnson with a soundtrack by Sunderland’s Mercury-nominated Field Music and Newcastle’s Warm Digits, performing with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and The Cornshed Sisters. The creative producer for the project is writer and musician Bob Stanley. The premiere took place at the Sunderland Empire Theatre on 10 July 2016, close to the 100th anniversary of the first salvos of the Battle of the Somme. One of largest theatres in the North East, the Empire and was opened by music hall star Vesta Tilley on 1 July 1907. A film by Esther Johnson Narrated by Kate Adie and Alun Armstrong Music Composed by Field Music and Warm Digits Performed with Royal Northern Sinfonia and The Cornshed Sisters Produced by Esther Johnson and Bob Stanley Year: 2016 Duration: 00:72:00 Country of Production: UK Asunder is co-commissioned by Sunderland Cultural Partnership and 14-18 NOW: WW1 Centenary Art Commissions, supported by The National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Asunder is supported by Sir James Knott Trust, Culture Bridge North East and Sunderland Business Improvement District.