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Flora Thompson was born in an Oxfordshire hamlet in 1876. She left
school at 14 and went to work as a clerk in a small village post
office until her marriage to John Thompson. She is perhaps best
remembered for her semi-autobiographical trilogy which evokes,
through childhood memories in the person of Laura, in a vanished
world of agricultural customs and rural culture in England of the
1880s. Keith Dewhurst has adapted the trilogy into two plays "Lark
Rise" which erects the first day of harvest from sunrise to sunset
and, in contrast, "Candleford", which depicts a day in midwinter -
to give a lively picture of typical country life of the period with
music and songs. Commissioned by the National Theatre, the plays
can be produced in a "promenade" style where audience and actors
freely mix. With a flexible range of characters and a minimum of
stage props, this play could be of value with amateur drama groups.
Bill Bryden's Cottesloe Company, which flourished at Peter
Hall's
National Theatre, was the English theatre's only true ensemble of
the
last thirty or so years. "Impossible Plays" tells the story
of
the company and the many actors and musicians connected to
it.
Co-written by Keith Dewhurst, author of eight plays for the group,
and
Jack Shepherd, a founder-actor, it explains the ideas behind
the
company's work and how the work was staged, and provides an
idiosyncratic, lively and deeply personal take on the company.
"The search was always to find a popular theatre, a form of
theatre that would draw into it people from all backgrounds, not
just
the cultured and the educated."
Beginning with a Royal Court Theatre Sunday night performance
in
1970, the story of one company's aim to create a popular theatre
form
includes such milestone productions as "The Mystery "cycle of plays
and "Lark Rise to Candleford." With photographs by John Haynes,
Michael Mayhew and Nobby Clark, "Impossible Plays "is a glorious
and timely tribute to one of theatre's most innovative
companies.
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