Students To Perform In Play About Bradley Manning

Two Aberystwyth drama students from Wrexham will be performing next week in a university production of ‘The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning’.

The award-winning play was written by Welsh playwright Tim Price and tells the tale of the imprisoned 25-year-old Welsh-American military whistleblower Private Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning, who lived in Pembrokeshire for four years as a teenager.

Former Rhosnesni High School student Rebecca (Becki) E. Jones (21) and former Ysgol Morgan Llwyd pupil Kirsty E. McGrane (21) are both third year students on Drama and Theatre Studies degree courses at Aberystwyth University and will play multiple roles in the production. This includes the role of Bradley Manning and his fictional history teacher, Mrs. Stokes, in the public performances at the University from 19 to 22 November.

The play was previously a National Theatre Wales production, but has since been performed in schools across Wales and at the Edinburgh Festival over the past 12 months.

Becki said: “The play has been a big challenge yet such a rewarding experience for me. Exploring the different changes in Chelsea’s life has really opened my eyes to the horror and reality of the US government’s unfair treatment of Chelsea following an honest act of courage. I have laughed, I have cried and have reached a brand new understanding of the Manning case.

“As I say in the play, If society casts you as powerless, why follow society’s rules? (Mrs Stokes Scene 16).”

Kirsty said: “I think identity has been the best bit of the play for me; no matter what you identify as or what your background is, it’s important to strive for equal rights for all so that nobody is disadvantaged on the basis of stereotypes and roles constructed by society.”

Members of the newly established Private Manning Family Support group will be present at performances with information about how they are working to support Manning’s Welsh family, including fundraising for the ongoing costs of family prison visits to the US.

In August, after three years of pre-trial detention during which time she was subjected to treatment condemned by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Private Manning was sentenced to 35 years military imprisonment on multiple espionage charges for releasing suppressed evidence including much about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the notorious ‘Collateral Murder’ video that shocked the world.

The play deals with Manning’s schooldays in Haverfordwest, the circumstances leading to her deployment as a military intelligence analyst in Iraq, the release of the documents and Manning’s subsequent mistreatment in detention. It is a fictional account based on real events.

Three close members of Private Manning’s maternal family will attend the play next week.