"Lark Rise" and "Candleford" 9th - 13th November 2010 

Lark Rise to Candleford

Click here to download a PDF of the cast lists for both Lark Rise and Candleford.

Rehearsals

Click here to download the rehearsal schedule (updated 15th August 2010)

Flora Thompson’s autobiographical trilogy was adapted for the National Theatre by Keith Dewhurst in 1978 as two separate plays - Lark Rise and Candleford. These plays became famous for their innovative theatre and iconic music, selected, arranged and performed by the Albion Band. The music is an integral part of the plays, and ranges from traditional folk songs through musical hall to powerful folk-rock. The plays present gentle, often humorous tableaux of rural life in the late 1800s, with little real narrative – rather different from the TV adaptation. Each play follows the events of a single day – one in Summer, one in Winter. Lark Rise (based on the Oxfordshire village of Juniper Hill) is set on the first day of harvest, with Laura (Flora’s character) aged 12. Candleford takes place two years later, on the day of the first hunt meet of the year. Now 14, Laura has left home and is working at Candleford Green (Fringford) post office for her cousin Dorcas Lane. Both plays feature poignant flashes forward to life beyond the villages.

For the TATS Autumn production, we will be staging both plays on alternate nights, with a double performance on the final Saturday. To capture the feel of the original promenade productions, we will be using a thrust stage, largely surrounded by the audience. The music will be faithfully reproduced from the original by a live band, as we expect a good many visitors will be attracted from outside the area to hear the music.

The cast is potentially huge. The 30-40 individual parts in each play were covered by a cast of 18 at the National. We will be involving as many people as possible. There are a small number of children’s parts, including the main character, Laura, which requires two girls – one for Lark Rise (12) and one for Candleford (14). All other parts are small enough to allow people to take at least one role in each play.

Performance dates are Tuesday 09/11/10 (Lark Rise) to Saturday 13/11/10 (Lark Rise afternoon and Candleford evening).