What was said at a private dinner in 1939 between Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain and their wives - the only time all four met?

THE renowned team at Crime and Comedy Theatre have a hot new radio play touring around the UK and it’s coming to Arlington Arts, Snelsmore, on Saturday.

Its star-studded cast includes Coronation Street’s Brian Capron, Tim Hudson (De Gaulle, Father Brown), Corrinne Wicks (Doctors, Emmerdale), Sarah Gain (Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing) and Frazer Hines (Emmerdale, Doctor Who).

“Winston, this is our problem – I would pacify Hitler, you would provoke him.”

The Lion and the Unicorn follows a private dinner between Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain and their wives Clementine and Anne on an evening in 1939 – six weeks after war has been declared. The only time history tells us all four met, with no official record of what transpired.

Epic, dramatic, and moving, the play echoes modern day political issues and looks into the climate of a war-ridden Britain.

Presented as a radio play live on-stage, the setting is the radio studio, with actors ready for broadcast, and the sound effects created live on stage, all combining to transport the audience to wartime London.

From the pen of Robin Hawdon (God and Stephen Hawking, A Night In Provence), this compelling new play has a striking relevance to the modern day as it asks the question how far should one go to pacify a threatening dictator?