A powerful theatrical performance reflecting on the aftermath of the Second World War and the birth of modern human rights law will be staged at Ballakermeen Studio Theatre on Tuesday, March 10 at 7.30pm.

‘Dreams of Peace & Freedom’ combines music, spoken word and projected images to explore how Europe emerged from devastation with a renewed commitment to peace, justice and international cooperation.

Set against the backdrop of a continent in ruins, the performance revisits the period following World War II, when those responsible for war crimes were being brought to justice under a developing system of international law.

This year marks 80 years since the Nuremberg War Trials, during which leading Nazi figures were prosecuted, including Hermann Göring, who took the witness stand in March 1946. The production highlights the role of British prosecutor Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, whose legal brilliance was central to Göring’s conviction.

The show also traces how the horrors uncovered during the liberation of concentration camps such as Belsen and Auschwitz profoundly affected political leaders of the time.

Determined that such atrocities should never happen again, they helped lay the foundations for what would become the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), established in 1950.

Maxwell Fyfe was instrumental in shaping the Convention, which marked its 75th anniversary recently.

Local organiser Ian Cook, who has brought the production to the Isle of Man, said the performance carries an urgent contemporary relevance.

‘It is a theatrical performance of song, spoken words and images graphically showing why such novel ideas needed expression in sound institutions,’ he said.

Many of the words used are taken directly from Maxwell Fyfe’s speeches and writings, giving the work what Cook describes as a rare immediacy.

He added that the loss of direct experience of war is having visible consequences today.

‘Most of those who fought in that war and witnessed its horrors without the prior knowledge we now have are gone.

‘That familiarity with the damage war brings is no longer common, and its absence is showing in a political landscape where harshness, xenophobia and insularity are reasserting themselves.’

Dreams of Peace & Freedom was written by Sue Casson and is performed by English Cabaret, a professional theatre company founded more than a decade ago by Sue and Tom Blackmore.

The production was created as part of Songs of the People, a project marking 75 years of the ECHR, and has toured widely to venues including the Edinburgh Fringe, Coventry and Southwark Cathedrals, the Museum of Liverpool, and the Quaker Meeting House in Manchester.

The performance carries a deeply personal dimension. It is performed by Casson alongside Lily and Robert, members of a new generation of David Maxwell Fyfe’s family, who speak the words of their great-grandparents. The show is directed by Tom Blackmore.

Dreams of Peace & Freedom runs for approximately one hour and 15 minutes.

For further information, contact Ian Cook by emailing [email protected] or phoning 07624 498568.