Snapshot of day in WWI trenches in paper exhibition

It is a touching snapshot of a typical day on the battlefield during the First World War – and the poignant scene is depicted in a special exhibition put together by first-year university students, made entirely from paper and cardboard.

Life-size trenches, poor outdoor sleeping quarters and injured soldiers are some of the sets that have been created out of brown paper.

Everything from the weaponry and uniforms to lanterns and communications equipment has been thoroughly and meticulously researched to create the TPE Paper Installation: Battle of the Somme at Birmingham City University.

The 31 Theatre Performance and Event Design students took 20 days to painstakingly create the trenches scene down to the finest detail, including facial expressions and buckles on satchels.

All the while visitors are bombarded with the noises of war, including gun fire, artillery bombardment and the shouts of charging soldiers.

A projected moon hangs over the whole exhibition on one of The Shell Theatre's walls, with the occasional flash of an explosion. Student Connor Woodey, aged 18 and from Bexleyheath in London, is one of those behind the breathtaking work, and created the sound effects that echo around the hall.

He said: "It was quite a hard-hitting day, which had a big impact for everyone who was around during the First World War.

"That was something we tried to recreate in this exhibition."

The first day of the Battle of the Somme was the bloodiest single day of the First World War – and one of the darkest days in the history of the British Army.

On the first day of the battle alone, more than 19,000 British soldiers died and at least another 38,230 were injured.

Ypres was the scene of three battles, of which the third, better known as Passchendaele, has come to symbolise the suffering and waste of trench warfare.

The Battle of the Somme had intended to be a major breakthrough, but instead became a byword for the catastrophic loss of human life in warfare.

The British planned to attack on a front between Serre and Curlu, north of the Somme.

Five French divisions would attack a front south of the Somme, between Curlu and Personne.

In a bid to ensure their advance was rapid, Allied artillery bombarded German lines for a week before the attack.

That assault failed to clear the way and instead sounded an early warning for the Germans, who had heavily fortified trenches and waited out the bombardment underground.

As British divisions walked slowly towards what they anticipated would be heavily decimated German lines, machine guns started.

A few units made it to the German trenches before being cut down but too few to make any gain.

Sixty per cent of all officers involved on the first day were killed. New volunteer battalions which had been two years in the making, called 'The Pals', suffered severe losses.

Local newspapers from the towns of the men that signed up together were soon filled with pages of names and photographs of those killed, missing and wounded. As news filtered home, whole towns were united in grief.

The university's project began when the students were given a single word as a guide – labyrinth– and had to come up with designs for a scene made of brown paper that would fill the space within the theatre.

They then came together, and each pitched their ideas. Nineteen-year-old Benny Fung, from Hong Kong, was the one who suggested the trenches of the First World War.

He said: "Looking at the definition of the word labyrinth, it is a very complicated structure in which people easily get lost. Usually there is only one path, but still people get lost.

"Taking that definition and using a poetic voice, I considered that every soldier only had one path, especially in the First World War – taking this into account we came up with this theme."

The students were then split into four groups to research different areas of their design, before putting the whole piece together.

Course lecturer Hollie Wright said: "They did volumes of research, and weren't just allowed to go to places such as Wikipedia.

"We had to make sure we achieved the sensitivity the subject matter warranted, and it's so detailed because there was very little flexibility with artistic licence, so all of this is designed using actual images. They had to achieve the sense of emotion that the design was due, it needed to be true to life. They had to make sure that was captured, and I think they have gone above and beyond. The students should be proud."

Paul Barrett, Course Director for Theatre, Performance and Event Design, added: "The project is a simple yet extremely effective approach to experiential learning.

"We wanted the first-year students to engage with fundamental principles associated with performance design, including scale, narrative, space, light, sound, audience and collaboration.

"As well as abilities that are difficult to teach like tenacity and determination.

"I'm particularly proud of the way that this group has dealt with such an emotive subject in such a mature and respectful manner." There are 10 characters depicted in the scene, with each based on a different wartime poem chosen and researched by the students, relating to that date or to that battle.

Students drew on inspiration from the work of leading war poets Wilfred Owen, a wartime chaplain nicknamed Woodbine Willy and Charles Hamilton Sorley, who all wrote about the shocking and sad horrors of life in the trenches.

The work includes The Spirit, written by Willy in which he encourages his fellow servicemen to 'carry on' through the horrors they were facing.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the exhibition, which was built on a budget of just £450, is that none of it is built around a metal frame. Even the tall trenches are made entirely of brown paper.

The display has been receiving recognition from across the country, with inquiries about moving parts of it to keep in permanent exhibitions. The piece cannot be moved as a whole due to its fragile nature, but the students and the university are in talks with different organisations, including branches of the British Legion, about how some of it may be preserved or recreated.

To see the display, visit The Shell Theatre at the university's Parkside Building near Curzon Street, Birmingham, before March 5.

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