Sunday 21 April, 3pm, Ventnor Arts Club. £6.50

This drama documentary explores the pacifism that was such a powerful influence on composer Benjamin Britten’s life and work. Telling Britten's story through a combination of drama, performance, interview and archive, the film includes material never before released or performed.

At its core are the dramatic portrayals of Britten’s time as a pupil at Gresham’s School, in Holt, Norfolk, where his contemporaries included the spy Donald Maclean and James Klugmann, the British Communist Party historian.

As the young Ben Britten, Alex Lawther, recently acclaimed for his performance in David Hare’s South Downs, leads a group of talented emerging actors in their portrayal of life at Gresham’s School in the late 1920s'.

Leading artists James Gilchrist, Iain Burnside and Raphael Wallfisch join up-and-coming stars such as counter tenor Jake Arditti and the Benyounes String Quartet to perform the music that illustrates the narrative.

Britten's pacifist tendencies had manifested themselves in early childhood, but the liberal atmosphere of Gresham’s clearly reinforced them. While he never joined the Communist Party, Britten applauded his friends who did and much of his early adulthood was spent trying to fuse communism with pacifism.

His pacifism developed out of the polarisation of communism versus fascism, so that by the end of the Second World War Britten had become a ‘pure’ pacifist – an ideal that profoundly influenced much of what he wrote subsequently, from the contained darkness of the Second String Quartet to the outpouring of the War Requiem.

Instrumental and choral groups from Gresham’s School are also featured in the film along with friends of Britten, as well as historical and political commentators. Legendary screen actor John Hurt narrates and appears in the film.

The screening will be introduced by the director Tony Britten, a highly regarded musician and music film maker, who will take part in a Q&A with the audience.