Directer John Walton tells Katherine MacAlister how a wartime pamphlet inspired a hit theatre show

When theatre director John Walton came across the pamphlet of Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain he knew he had struck comedy gold.

The advice manual on how GIs should treat and understand the British is a hilarious and insightful read, and there and then he determined to craft it into a brand new drama.

Now touring Oxfordshire’s towns and villages, the resulting comedy, also named Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain, is as funny as John intended and now touring rurally, especially near former US air bases like Upper Heyford.

So what was the attraction?

“The two sides weren’t just linguistically different. They were different in every way. They were like an exotic tribe who appeared with all this amazing food, chocolate and cigarettes. They were paid three times more than our soldiers, and the ladies loved them. I’m a big fan of the Americans but back in the 1940s they were a world apart, so they tried really hard to integrate themselves with the local communities here and this play is just an extension of that really.

“It was also a wonderfully rose-tinted view of the British and I knew immediately that it would make a great show. Having got comedy troupe The Real MacGuffins on board they went from there.”

For research purposes the theatre company then moved to Steeple Aston for two weeks to get a feel of village life and talk to the locals who experienced the Yanks post-Second World War.

So was it easy to write?

“There was so much scope and enthusiasm for this play that it was easy to give the narrative a structure,” John, 33, said.

The former Oxford University student who has appeared in student productions at the Oxford Playhouse, OFS and BT, is therefore enormously excited about coming back to Oxfordshire and touring with his new work.

It depicts the aftermath of an American debacle where exuberant American troops have trashed a local English village. An emergency meeting has been held to limit the damage because the scenes of debauchery have made the national press. Hastily arranged cultural training results in some hilarious results as the GIs try to make up for their bad behaviour by forging links with the locals by learning to play cricket and take on some of their characteristics.

Considering John’s last play was about Winston Churchill, why this fascination with the Second World War?

“Well, I’m from Jersey which was occupied by the Germans during the Second World War so I grew up on tales of the war. My parents were refugees, evacuated to Wales, so it’s hard to get away from it on the Channel Islands,” he shrugs.

After graduating from Balliol, John went to Paris to study acting and then returned to the UK to concentrate on directing.

Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain is commencing its 34-date national tour with an appearance at The Theatre Chipping Norton today, before returning to play at North Oxfordshire’s village halls in November.

“This is the work I’ve always wanted to make; funny and reminiscent. I grew up on a diet of Dad’s Army, and that’s what I’m interested in, so we are really excited about this and so far the feedback has been great. We just hope the audiences love it too.”

You can catch the show at:
* October 7, 7.45pm Chipping Norton, The Theatre
chippingnortontheatre.co.uk 01608 642350
* November 12, 7.30pm Mollington, Village Hall
01295 750952 and 01295 750230
* November 13, 7.30pm Cassington, Village Hall
01865 883512
* November, 14, 7.30pm Steeple Aston, Village Hall
01869 340423.