Written By
Keith Dewhurst
Where and When
21st June 1989 @ Moors Valley Country Park, West Moors
22nd June 1989 @ Walford Mill, Wimborne
The Plot
A literary sampler of English village life in late Victorian Oxfordshire, Lark Rise re-enacts the first day of harvest. The play is written to be peformed as a promenade production with no distinction between stage and auditorium. The interest lies in the lively picture of typical country life of the period, with music and songs, with a brief flash forward to the 1914-18 war. Music is available separately on hire. Contained in a volume with Candleford.
Ticket Information
Cast
- Laura Timms – Helen Wood
- Edmund Timms – Simon Mitchell
- Emma Timms – Carolyn Woodward
- Albert Timms – Paul Hewitt
- Bishie – Brian Ball
- Boamer – Tony Feltham
- Pumpkin – Chris Bunn
- Old Price – Joe Brooks
- Old David – Hugh Brasnett
- Mr Morris – Hermann Swoboda
- Fisher – Chris Owen
- Stut – David Green
- Mrs Spicer – Joyce Eidmans
- Mrs Blaby – Jan Stevenson
- Mrs Peverill – Christina Barnes
- Mrs Miller – June Easden
- Mrs Andrews – Muriel Brooks
- Old Sally – Margaret Pope
- Dick – Hugh Brasnett
- Old Postie – Hermann Swoboda
- Mrs Gaskin – Shirley Ilott
- Mr Sharman – Chris Owen
- Doctor – Paul Hewitt
- Grandfather – Joe Brooks
- Queenie Macay – Sheila Morrell
- Twister – Hugh Brasnett
- Jerry Parish – Tony Feltham
- Martha Beamish – Julia Dryden
- Mrs Beamish – Pam Feltham
- Squire Bracewell – Chris Bunn
- John Price – Tony Feltham
- Garibaldi Jacket – Thelma Dryden
- Cheapjack – Martin Lodge
- Tramp – Chris Owen
- Polly – Julie Willis
- Landlord – Hermann Swoboda
- Algy – David Green
- Mr Pridham – John Witcher
- Mrs Fisher – Janet Smith
- Witch Elder – Shirley Ilott
- Carrier – Chris Bunn
Creative Team
- Director – Enid Davies
- Stage Manager – Norman Nicholas
- ASM – Jim Ruegg
- Lighting – Chris Richards and Louise Eaton
- Properties – Sheila Morrell and Margaret Pope
- Costumes – Joyce Eidmans, Janet Smith, Jill Thomas and Enid Davies
- Prompt – Barbara Trebilco
- Morris Choreography – Ray Sargent
Gallery
Reviews
A classic work to be proud of
Wimborne Drama Club can be justly proud of it’s offering for the town’s Art Festival. teh club’s two presentations of Larkrise in Morrs Valley Country Park Visitors Centre and in the open air at Walford Mill were sold out well in advance, and were well received.
This ambitious musical production required a tremendous amount of work, fund-raising and organisation for over a year from director Enid Davies, business and publicity manager Carolyn Woodward and Jan Stevenson plus helpers.
It would not have been possible without the sponsorship and support which they achieved, nor without the professional service of the band New St George who provided the evocative music.
Larkrise depicts the lives of a small rural community in Oxfordshire from a harvest day in the late 19th century up to a moving scene when the vicar calls the names of the village dead in the First World War.
Enid Davies’ masterly direction of a cast of 27 who acted 42 parts in all, produced an evocative picture of the era. For two nights they all became convincing characters of the village of Larkrise, going about their daily work and hard-won leisure, asking little from a life in which they made a meagre living, but also with a lively sense of fun and an absorbing interest in the small events which concerned their little community.
For this production a raised platform formed the cottage living room of the Timms family, with the audience seated at each side. Tribute should also be paid to the excellent stage management, lighting arrangements and properties, taking in to account the difficulties of transportation and adapting equipment to the very dfferent venues and to the team of four ladies responsible for the authentic appearances of the costumes.
Programme
