Download Press Release - Combat Veteran Players

Can Shakespeare heal? One Theatre Group’s Quest to Help Heal the Symptoms of PTSD
Instead of uniforms, they now wear costumes. Instead of war, they now face the stage.
With most of their military service behind them, a group of active and former soldiers from
the US and UK are turning to Shakespeare with the Combat Veteran Players (CVP) and
staging a play to help tackle the symptoms of post-traumatic stress.
For one night only, December 14, these British and Americans wounded warriors will act
together to perform “The Comedy of Errors” at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in
Washington D.C., one of the most important Shakespearean venues in the U.S.
In the UK, the award-winning CVP have pulled in large crowds. They have also performed
an extract from "Richard III" in front of H.R.H. Prince Charles at Stratford-Upon-Avon on the
anniversary of Shakespeare’s birthday. So there are high expectations for this show, the first
big scale production from the newly founded US CVP.
Each of these cast members have their own personal reasons as to why Shakespeare is
helping them on their road to recovery:

UK CVP member, Bombardier Shaun Johnson, spent eight years with the UK Gun
Regiment and three years with Ceremonial Regiment in the Royal Artillery and has
struggled with PTSD after a medical discharge. One of the first UK members of the
UK CVP, he says performing Shakespeare “is helping me face my demons from the
past, it has educated me that it is alright to let the emotions out.” A survivor of several
suicide attempts in the past, the CVP has helped him find a new confidence.

US CVP member, Sgt. Jack Eubanks, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars
was medically retired in 2013 from the Marine Corps. He welcomes the camaraderie
of theatre life: “Working in the theatre here is the closest feeling to the camaraderie
we had in the first unit” and adds, “In a military squad, soldiers have to depend on
each other…here it is the same on stage, other people depend on you”.

UK CVP member, Signalman Androcles Scicluna, served with the British Royal
Signals for six years in Europe, but ended up homeless after his military discharge,
“People like me sometimes are depressed over our present situation and suddenly
when we jump into a Shakespearean character, that’s like leaving our own problems
away and getting into another person. Once we finish acting, being the character,
and get back into our own, somehow the kind of depression has moved out.”

US CVP member, Sgt. Major Ray Smith, has served in the Army for 20 years as an
infantryman and religious support manager and explains, "I was depressed, and now
I'm happy. Thank you for this. I have PTSD and I was searching to reignite my
interest in my past of film acting. Not having the motivation to act, I had only planned
to sit in and observe. After just a few short months, I am performing three characters
in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors which is something I never imagined doing.”
Interviews with the UK & US CVP members are available on request.
The CVP founder and director of this current show, Jaclyn McLoughlin, said she chose “The
Comedy of Errors” because “Shakespeare can be intimidating…and I think laughter is one of
the best ways to push that intimidation to the side and illustrate that his texts are actually
fully accessible and meant to be enjoyed.”
Working with these Service members, she says is an extraordinary privilege, and explains:
“The Players manage to open my eyes every time to see new meanings and insights under
Shakespeare’s words that I and many of my fellow trained commercial theater colleagues
never would have seen on our own. The excitement, appreciation and pure joy of
Shakespeare that they bring to the stage is unlike anything that I’ve ever known or
experienced in my career.”
Interviews with Jaclyn McLoughlin can be seen here.
This event will be an example of the UK/US partnership at its best thanks to the CVP’s
collaboration with British Council US, UK’s GREAT Campaign, Shakespeare Lives, the
Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. and The Royal Shakespeare
Company.
Other potential interviews available include Major General Cripwell, Military Attaché, USA
and Ian Wainwright, a visiting member of the Royal Shakespeare Company who will be
conducting some workshops with the cast.
If you would like to write or broadcast this story, please credit :The British Council,
#Shakespeare Lives program, GREAT and the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Any questions or interview requests?
Please contact
CVP director: Jaclyn McLoughlin [email protected] Tel: 703 505 5466
OR Kathy Culpin, British Council. [email protected] Tel: 202 588 7844
and cell: 202 246 4445
…………………………
About the British Council
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and
educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the
people of the UK and other countries. Using the UK’s cultural resources we make a positive
contribution to the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building
connections and engendering trust. We work with over 100 countries across the world in the
fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach
over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts
and publications.
Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.
The majority of our income is raised delivering a range of projects and contracts in English
teaching and examinations, education and development contracts and from partnerships
with public and private organisations. Eighteen per cent of our funding is received from the
UK government. For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org
About the Combat Veterans Theatre
Combat Veteran Players (CVP) was founded by American Jaclyn McLoughlin in 2009 in the
UK after discussions with Combat Stress, the UK’s leading Veteran’s mental health
charity. It’s an award winning Shakespeare company that has become a widely recognized
model of the practice of “Applied Theatre” which has been proven to be highly effective in
the rehabilitation of former service members.
In the UK, the CVP received an Owle Schreame Award for “Innovation in Classical Theatre
in 2015 and was a finalist for the Soldiering On Award for “Innovation” in 2016. It was
nominated in 2015 by the National Lead of the National Veterans Mental Health Network in
the NHS for an Award for Excellence with the Royal Society for Public Health.
After the success of the CVP in the UK, Jackie travelled to the US to expand the company
there. In 2015, she began regular bi-monthly travel between countries for the year to
follow to open the American branch of the company in Washington, D.C. She has remained
in the U.S. ever since. “Comedy of Errors” is their first production and debuted in July.
This performance on December 14, is the first joint UK & US production of the CVP. Four
members of the UK team have flown over specially to be part of this show. Two members
of the RSC will also fly over to conduct workshops with the cast.