In May 1940, Nazi-Germany launched a surprise attack on Belgium and the Netherlands. Faced with the threat of an invasion and in fear of sabotage, the British Government embarked on a policy of mass internment of German and Austrian Nationals in the United Kingdom. The large majority of the prisoners were Jewish and other refugees who had escaped persecution by the Nazi Regime and were ready to fight against the Nazis together with the British.
They had to stay in the camps for many months until the authorities had dealt with each case individually. Most of the internees were brought to the Isle of Man, which had already been used for internment during World War One.
The composer Hans Gál (1890-1987) became a leading member of the arts committee at Central Camp in the capital Douglas.
After several successful concerts of classical music, the arts committee decided to put on a comic revue to provide much needed light entertainment. It was the brainchild of the Austrian film director Georg Höllering (1897-1980), who had worked with Berthold Brecht on the film ‘Kuhle Wampe’ in 1932. He asked Gál to compose the music for it and called it ‘What a Life!’.
The songs are parodies of actual life in the camp, making fun of the seagulls, the barbed wire, the gender separation, the fitness routine, cleaning up, sharing double beds and observing the blackout.
Unfortunately, the text of the spoken dialogue scenes that were performed between the musical numbers does not survive. What we do have are the songs and instrumental numbers from Gál’s manuscripts, and his wonderful diary ‘Music behind Barbed Wire’, which recounts the whole episode of internment and the creation of the revue in great detail. In performances, we will intersperse the songs with relevant excerpts from Gál’s diary to put them in context. The excerpts have been included with kind permission from Eva Fox-Gál. In May 1940, Nazi-Germany launched a surprise attack on Belgium and the Netherlands. Faced with the threat of an invasion and in fear of sabotage, the British Government embarked on a policy of mass internment of German and Austrian Nationals in the United Kingdom. The large majority of the prisoners were Jewish and other refugees who had escaped persecution by the Nazi Regime and were ready to fight against the Nazis together with the British.
They had to stay in the camps for many months until the authorities had dealt with each case individually. Most of the internees were brought to the Isle of Man, which had already been used for internment during World War One.
The composer Hans Gál (1890-1987) became a leading member of the arts committee at Central Camp in the capital Douglas.
After several successful concerts of classical music, the arts committee decided to put on a comic revue to provide much needed light entertainment. It was the brainchild of the Austrian film director Georg Höllering (1897-1980), who had worked with Berthold Brecht on the film ‘Kuhle Wampe’ in 1932. He asked Gál to compose the music for it and called it ‘What a Life!’.
The songs are parodies of actual life in the camp, making fun of the seagulls, the barbed wire, the gender separation, the fitness routine, cleaning up, sharing double beds and observing the blackout.
Unfortunately, the text of the spoken dialogue scenes that were performed between the musical numbers does not survive. What we do have are the songs and instrumental numbers from Gál’s manuscripts, and his wonderful diary ‘Music behind Barbed Wire’, which recounts the whole episode of internment and the creation of the revue in great detail. In performances, we will intersperse the songs with relevant excerpts from Gál’s diary to put them in context. The excerpts have been included with kind permission from Eva Fox-Gál. Artists:
Tenor:​ Norbert Meyn
Baritone: ​Simon Wallfisch
Director:​ Robert Hersey
Actor:​ Philip Harrison
Actor:​ Chris Connel
Violin:​ Kyra Humphreys
​Violin: Alexandra Raikhlina
Viola:​ Anna Barsegjana
Cello:​ Gabriel Waite
Clarinet:​ Dov Goldberg
Flute:​ Charlotte Ashton
Piano: Yoshie Kawamura

Information Source: Brundibár Arts Festival | eventbrite

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Newcastle United has won the English Football League Championship. Newcastle was originally an industrial city with an export port for transporting coal. Now it has been transformed into a tourist and cultural city. It has a city light rail, an airport, and a train, with convenient transportation. It is a transit city from London to Edinburgh. Although it is the northernmost city in England, close to Glasgow, it is not cold in winter because it is by the sea. There are many tourist attractions here, including various bridges on the Newcastle River, churches of various styles in the city, a five-kilometer-long shopping street, Chinatown, and a spectacular coastline. The Newcastle Shipyard built four warships for the Qing Dynasty Navy, namely Zhiyuan, Chaoyong, Jingyuan, and Yangwei, all of which were sunk in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. There are so many things worth remembering in the sky of history. This is a city with many stories.

Chinatown Express

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This is a street with a good location, close to St James&#39; Park, the main stadium of Newcastle Football Team, and Newcastle Business College, where most of the students are Chinese. It is also close to Monument in the city center. Some products in the Chinese supermarket in the neighborhood are not available elsewhere, and the business is very good. Some restaurants require you to take the elevator to go upstairs to eat, which is rare here, which shows that the commercial density here is greater than the surrounding areas. There is also a Chinese medicine clinic. The most conspicuous is the city wall, which is left by a former large lead pigment products factory.

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Close to Buckingham Palace. You can see many animals. Pelicans, swans, black swans, geese, squirrels, etc. The playground is also unique and nice.

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