Gail Foster

Freelance reviewer

Latest articles from Gail Foster

Review: The Armed Man

On Friday and Saturday the massed ranks of The Invitation Theatre Company, Devizes Musical Theatre, Devizes Chamber Choir, and The Fulltone Orchestra gathered in St. Mary’s, Devizes under Antony Brown’s inspired musical direction to perform ‘The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace’ by Karl Jenkins, and other works, to commemorate 100 years since the signing of the Armistice.

Review: For King and Country

Devizes has put its heart and soul in to remembering the fallen of WW1 this year. The town’s been strewn with knitted poppies and paper cranes and the outlines of the dead, and last Saturday 189 people, each one with the name of someone’s son pinned to their breast, stood in silence in The Brittox in memory of those from here who fought and died. There’s been Wayne Cherry’s 100 Hours of Remembrance, an act singularly responsible for educating a generation of the town’s children (and some adults) about The Great War, last week St. Mary’s shook to the sound of ‘The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace’, and Sunday morning saw more people in the church than ever there was at Christmas. As the last post sounded at the War Memorial, the crowd stretched all the way back to the Town Hall. People have knitted. Grown men have cried. Children have asked questions. It’s been about community. It’s been about grief. It’s been emotional.