Captive Audience
Saturday 28th February 2.00pm
Surviving in a prison camp - entertainment and pastimes
If your father, grandparents, great grandparents or any other relative or friends of relatives was a Prisoner of War than this is the event for you to share memories, photos, letters and documents. If not then this is still the event for you if you want to find out more about life as a POW in Europe during the second world war.
Captive Audience, John Puzey’s latest book, is a fictional account of an Italian POW camp but based on many actual stories and anecdotes, particularly about how the men kept themselves entertained. Described as funny, moving and informative, the book follows three men as they attempt to put on shows and plays for the POWs.
John’s illustrated talk will look at life as a POW and how sophisticated the entertainment became as well as some of the more bizarre ways the men kept themselves occupied. John’s own father was a POW and the book was inspired by the many letters he wrote from the prison camp, but it goes beyond one man’s experience and looks, not only at the shows, sport and entertainment, but also at the uncertainty and anxiety of being a POW as well as the poor conditions and food.
John hopes that people may have their own memories to share at the end of his presentation, and there will be an opportunity to display any mementoes or objects you may have.