In Conversation: Pressure at Wokingham Theatre

It is widely regarded as the most important weather-based decision in history, as the Allies struggled to decide on the right day for the invasion of Normandy during the Second World War. The disagreement between British and American teams on the approach to the D-Day Landings is the historical backdrop for Wokingham Theatre’s latest play, David Haig’s Pressure.

We caught up with cast member Dave Wood to hear what it’s like trying to bring this incredible series of events to life on our stage.

Without giving too much away, what is the play about?

It’s the true story of the Allied Forces trying to determine whether or not they can proceed with their plans for D-Day. You’ve got the US team  headed by this hurricane-like General Eisenhower, desperate to take the seemingly last chance to invade France. And he’s versus this quiet, socially-awkward Scottish meteorologist, who knows all too well the unpredictability of the British weather and is adamant the six weeks of nothing but sunshine can’t be relied upon to make this life-or-death decision. 

So the pressure of the title refers to not only waiting for this good, sunny weather to make the invasion, but also the fact that this room is filling up with tension and pressure as well, with hundreds of thousands of lives at stake, if they proceed with their plans and the weather does indeed turn.

Tell us about your character?

I play Eisenhower’s right hand man, the first ever celebrity weather forecaster. He may know what it is to forecast long hot dry spells in Beverly Hills for Hollywood pictures to shoot, but he has no idea about weather patterns in the English Channel. 

Last summer was the 80th anniversary of D-Day. What’s it been like working on a true story, with one of the most famous moments in human history?

It’s such a privilege. The more you rehearse, the more you get into it and find out the stories behind the stories, the fact these are all real lives, real moments in history. The actors and audience know how this end, but I think the play does a great job of reminding us that no one was certain of the outcome, so it gives you another level of respect for the characters you’re playing. These were changing times in a changing world, not least the way we looked at weather back then.

For such a serious subject matter, rehearsals have been surprisingly fun. We’ve really bonded together and had a great level of camaraderie between the Brits and the Yanks.

What can audiences expect from the show?

It’s a thrilling look behind the curtain of one of the most important periods in the Second World War and indeed human history. We see the people behind these decisions, see them grappling with what to do and the ensuing tension, frustration, joy, sadness, and of course pressure. 

I think it’s a very faithful depiction. We’ve tried to keep the accuracy, all the maps are accurate and we’ve researched the actual footage (where it exists) of these key players. We’ve borrowed equipment from the Royal Meteorological Society, for that extra detail of accuracy. We’ve even had award-winning meteorologist Chris Merchant from Reading University come to talk to us, so we could properly explain the weather systems. This session completely changed how we play one of the scenes, because we hadn’t fully understood the picture and what it meant to make Eisenhower shift his entire thought of the whole war.

What about the production, what’s in store for audiences?

It’s just one fixed set, one room, where all these incredible moments in history happen, so this really compounds that sense of pressure. We see this one room in daytime, at nightime, holding individual secrets shared between colleagues, interrogations from commanders in chief, arguments, picnics, the whole gambit of human emotion, all the against the backdrop of increasingly sleep-deprived people. 

How do you hope audiences feel watching this play?

I hope they’re enthralled. I hope they’ve had their eyes opened and feel empathetic at the decisions that had to be made. Any Second World War story gives you an appreciation for the freedom we’re all afforded today. But I had no idea just how precarious that freedom was until we did this play.

It’s human pathos against the greatest of stakes in the last century. It’s the most important decision based on weather in human history, which is thrilling. The pressure starts from the outset and it doesn’t let off.

David Haig’s pressure opens at Wokingham Theatre on Thursday 20 March and tickets are available now.