Silk - A New Stage Play by Ray Evans

Silk - Performance dates 25th -28th June 2026

Read through - 14th January 2026 - 7.30pm @ Henley Memorial Hall

Auditions - 21st January 2026 - 7.30pm @ Henley Memorial Hall

We'd love you to get involved and welcome new talent, come along to the read through or register your interest here

Synopsis for Potential Cast Members

Silk is a layered wartime drama set in Henley-in-Arden, weaving together memory, myth, and buried truths across seventy years. It begins with the crash of a German Heinkel bomber in May 1941 and spirals into a contemporary investigation that uncovers secrets long hidden beneath the surface of village life.

The story follows Thomas Dekker, a German documentary filmmaker, who comes to Henley in 2013 to research a curious anecdote: local women making underwear from a German parachute. What starts as a quaint footnote quickly deepens into a search for truth about the downed crew, wartime secrecy, and the mysterious figure of Constance, a young British woman whose clandestine wartime encounter with a wounded German airman named Otto changed both their lives.

Through tense interviews with Henley’s elderly women, sharp confrontations with officialdom, and haunting reenactments of 1941, Silk explores themes of:

• Memory and myth – how stories shift over generations
• Love and loyalty – a forbidden bond across enemy lines
• Moral ambiguity – the blurred lines between patriotism and compassion
• Legacy – the impact of secrets on families decades later

The play moves fluidly between the present and the wartime past, blending documentary realism with theatrical intensity. At its heart lies the shocking revelation that Dekker is not just a filmmaker, but the son of the very German airman whose fate he is investigating. 

Performance Style & Demands:

Like any play, the words on paper are academic, realistic characterisation must be employed to keep the audience hooked. Actors will be challenged with roles that demand both subtlety and intensity. Dialogue often carries unspoken tensions, and several monologues and confrontations hinge on emotional truth. The play requires:

• The ability to shift between naturalistic interview-style dialogue and heightened, emotionally charged exchanges.
• Comfort with portraying characters at different ages or across memory and reality.
• A willingness to engage with themes of war, secrecy, sexuality, and intergenerational trauma. 

Key Roles:

• Thomas Dekker / Wilhelm Glessner – A German filmmaker in his early 60s, driven, intelligent, but quietly vulnerable.
• Eva Warrington – Henley school principal, intelligent and composed, cautious but drawn into Dekker’s quest.
• Constance (young) – A spirited, courageous SOE operative in 1941; sharp, witty, and brave enough to challenge both the enemy and her own world.
• Otto – A wounded German airman; cultured, charming, caught between fear and tenderness.
• Winnie Clarke – Constance’s daughter, now elderly; guarded, sharp, and holding a lifealtering truth.
• The Henley Women (Maggs, Edith, Alice, Rosie) – Each distinct, carrying fragments of wartime memory and differing moral viewpoints. 
• Hr. Swindler – German official; polished, calculating, a gatekeeper of buried truths.
• Len Andrews – A Home Guard veteran; earthy, candid, carrying both pride and guilt.

Silk is a play of atmosphere, revelation, and emotional complexity. It offers actors the chance to inhabit rich, layered characters whose lives are shaped by history, secrecy, and an extraordinary twist of fate.   

It will need top-end special effects to both shock and engage the audience!