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Lark Rise to Candleford

Following the success of the award-winning BBC television series, Bill Kenwright presents a new revival of Keith Dewhurst’s original stage adaptation of the much loved Lark Rise to Candleford. Based on the first book of Flora Thompson’s trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels, this heart warming play was first performed at London’s National Theatre in 1978 and was nominated for two Olivier Awards. Read more …

Seen through the eyes of young Laura Timms, the play follows a day in the life and relationships of the farm workers, craftsmen and gentry of the fictional hamlet of Lark Rise at the end of the nineteenth century. It is the first day of harvest, and the villagers celebrate with the simple pleasures of music, song and dance, creating a moving and evocative picture of a forgotten England.

The superb company of thirteen actors and two musicians includes Jonathan Ansell (the chart topping lead singer from X Factor sensation G4 who has just completed a hugely successful national tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Whistle Down The Wind); Sara Crowe (from Calendar Girls and Bedroom Farce in the West End and film credits including Four Weddings and a Funeral) Eric Richard (who played the beloved Sgt. Bob Cryer in The Bill for twenty years); Becci Gemmell (best known as Joyce Fisher in the BBC drama Land Girls) and Christopher Beeny (Last of the Summer Wine, Upstairs, Downstairs.)

Music is by folk icon Ashley Hutchings, founder of Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and The Albion Band. He created the music for the original National Theatre production, and he returns to supervise the music for this new revival with a band that includes his son Blair Dunlop, an up and coming young performer who appeared as the young Willy Wonka in Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which starred Johnny Depp.


The critical consensus

The seeds are there as Gemmell gamely leads a cast of 14, but this feels like a work that was pruned before its true beauty could blossom.

***(*)(*)Neil Cooper, The Herald, 20/10/2010

In the end, though, the deep dramatic impulse to tell this tale, and to recapture the story of a bygone England in all its complexity, seems to have been lost somewhere along the road.

***(*)(*)Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman, 22/10/2010

Lark Rise to Candleford is authentic and honest, and its nostalgic recollection of a bygone age of strong, tight-knit communities is warming.

***(*)(*)Alexandra Wingate, The Journal, 11/11/2010

Where and when?

King's Theatre, Edinburgh from Monday October 18, 2010, until Saturday October 23, 2010. More info: http://www.edtheatres.com/kings

His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen from Monday November 22, 2010, until Saturday November 27, 2010. More info: www.hmtaberdeen.com

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