The Nervous State: Screening and Panel Discussion
Description
The Nervous State
A short film by Nicola Baldwin.
The year is 1938... writer Peter Lucas keeps a journal of British inaction against fascism. His wife Prudie designs ‘The Lovers of Gudrun’, for Stockport Garrick Theatre. As Czechoslovakia is occupied – with Peter consumed by politics and Prudie obsessed by Gudrun – fault-lines in their personalities and marriage crack under pressure of impending war.
Adapted from ‘Journal Under The Terror 1938’ by F L (Peter) Lucas and inspired by the research of Prof. Julie V. Gottlieb into the anxiety of permacrisis, this is one couple’s psychological battle in Britain’s ‘war of nerves’.
5pm - Drinks reception in Diamond Workroom 2
5.15pm - Screening, panel, Q&A in Diamond Lecture Theatre 2
We're delighted to welcome you to a screening of playwright and filmmaker Nicola Baldwin’s short film The Nervous State, hosted by Julie V. Gottlieb, Professor of Modern History in the School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities.
Following the film, there will be a discussion focusing on dramatising history, the film's relevance to today's world, and the parallels between the late 1930s and our current state of 'permacrisis', with panellists Prof. Adrian Bingham, Dr. Carmen Levick (School of English, University of Sheffield), Louise Mulvey (writer, counsellor, and RLF Fellow), and Sarah Davis (Curriculum Leader in History and Politics at King Edward VII Upper School, Sheffield). Each panellist will offer insights from their specific field of expertise, and the panel will be chaired by Dr. Caoimhe Nic Dháibhéid .
The film forms part of The Nervous State Project - encompassing a play, documentaries and a forthcoming book, which bring together historians, writers, actors, history teachers and their students to explore ‘history from within’, with resources for teaching the History of Appeasement in schools.