Drury Lane to Dimapur

the long version

"When I reached centre stage, I turned towards the audience. Applause rang out, though I couldn't imagine why. Instinct told me that something more could be done to please the smiling faces half-hidden in the shadows."Glamorous, ambitious and headstrong, Doreen Lawrence, as she then was, entertained audiences in Britain throughout the Blitz and from 1942 the troops abroad in Africa, India and Burma. Nightly during the Blitz after the curtain fell, she journeyed home in the blackouts. Within days of reaching Cairo, Doreen met Jack Hawkins, already an established star and in charge of ENSA in the Far East. The Company, together with a sergeant, bearers, a cook and laundry boy, criss-crossed India by train, taking light comedy to the Forces.