below: my photo of meadow grass, bluebells and stitchwort in the dove valley, staffordshire, in the peak district, near my home
Sward!
The Story of a Meadow
Tour finished. My latest project, which has been a commission to write a play on the restoration of traditional hay meadows in the Northern Pennines, (great for butterflies too, so I am made up, of course). It is a magical and amusing journey through the vast sweep of human history that created our stunning rural landscape; it includes songs and at least on nice frock. Keep your eyes open for a possible future tour. In the meantime I a reworking the script for radio.
"An enthusiastic audience at Bowes Village Hall hosted the world premiere of this play, written with a fine sense of rural humour by Simon Corble." Helen Brown, The Northern Echo
The Play was produced by Blaize and is toured to:-
April 2011
Saturday 30th BOWES & GILMONBY Parish Hall, DL12 9HU tel 01833 628373
May 2011
Sunday 1st WATSON INSTITUTE, Castle Carrock, CA8 9PB tel 01228 670054
Monday 3rd IVEGILL Village Hall, CA4 0PA tel 016974 73707
Wednesday 4th DRIFFIELD SCHOOL, YO25 5HR tel 01377 253631 ext 272
Thursday 5th SPOTLIGHT THEATRE, Bridlington, YO15 3DZ tel 01262 601006
Friday 6th SHIRE HALL, Howden, DN14 7BJ tel 01430 431535
Saturday 7th TICKTON Village Hall, HU17 9SD tel 01964 543594
Thursday 12th DUNSHOP BRIDGE Village Hall, BB7 3BG tel 01254 660360
Friday 13th RAINHALL Centre, Barnoldswick, BB18 5DR tel 01282 818250
Saturday 14th MELLING Village Hall, LA6 2RB tel 015242 21233
Sunday 15th SLAIDBURN Village Hall BB7 3ES tel 01200 446555
Thursday 19th BICKERTON Village Hall, SY14 8AU tel 01829 782392
Friday 20th TARVIN Community Centre, CH3 8LY tel 01829 740109
Saturday 21st GOODWILL HALL, Faddiley, CW5 8HY tel 01270 524441
Sunday 22nd The BARBOUR INSTITUTE, Tattenhall, CH3 9PX tel 01829 771442
Tuesday 24th APPLEBY Public Hall, CA16 6YA tel 017683 52210
Wednesday 25th MICKLETON Village Hall, DL12 0JR tel 07794
Thursday 26th BAMBURGH Pavilion, NE69 7BJ tel 01665 721061
Friday 27th CORNHILL on TWEED Village Hall, TD12 4UA tel 01890 882268
Saturday 28th St THOMAS Church Hall, Stanhope, DL13 2UE tel 01388 528673 Sunday 29th MUNGRISDALE Village Hall, CA11 0XR tel 017687 79397
June 2011
Tuesday 2nd GOSFORTH Public Hall, CA20 1AS tel 019467 25700
Friday 3rd BEAMISH MUSEUM, Stanley DH9 0RG tel 0191 370 4000
Saturday 4th WABERTHWAITE, CA18 1RW tel 01229 717218
Tuesday 7th DENT Village Hall. LA10 5QL
Wednesday 8th DALES COUNTRYSIDE MUSEUM, Hawes, DL8 3NT tel 01524 251004
Thursday 9th DARLEY Memorial Hall, Harrogate, HG3 2RP tel 01423 780258
Friday 10th REETH Memorial Hall, DL10 4QL tel 01748 880019
Saturday 11th MELMERBY Village Hall. CA10 1HE tel 01768 881291
Tuesday 14th AMERDALE HALL, Arncliffe, BD23 5QP tel 01756 770235
Wednesday 15th WEST BURTON Village Hall, DL8 4JY tel 01969 663753
Thursday 16th SETTLE VICTORIA Hall, BD24 9DX tel 01729 825718
Friday 17th LOFTHOUSE Memorial Hall, HG3 5SA tel 01423 755275
Saturday 18th BURNSALL Village Hall, BD23 6BP
For more info, visit:-
www.blaize.uk.net/pages/forthcoming
or visit:-
HIGHLIGHTSNORTH.co.uk
for tour details etc
Before Sward!, The Signalman, was my most recent project; for this, see also:- www.foundtheatre.org.uk
The Signalman
from the ghost story by Charles Dickens
Found Theatre toured the play to small scale venues October - November 2009 and January 2010, with a re-run during October and November 2010
“Sinister, atmospheric and with a spine chilling twist in its tail”
City Life (Manchester)
My own good self as ghost hunter Montagu Furzan,
and below, Paul Sullivan as "the unfortunate driver"
The Signalman is a short play, lasting about 45 Minutes: in 2010, found Theatre presented it alongside two monologues - The Black Cat and The Rose Garden.
But I plan to combine it with two shorter supernatural tales by Dickens, to create a complete Dickensian Ghost Package. The Signalman script is available on request, and has indeed already been produced by an amateur company in Kent.
Here is the review from Now Then magazine, Sheffield:-
"It was a wet and windy night, but that was a perfect backdrop to a performance of ghost stories at the Lantern Theatre.
The adaptations were written by Simon Corble who, along with Paul Sullivan, also performed them. In first half the pair took turns to monologue, each commanding the stage for half an hour alone and creating a palpable atmosphere of tension.
The slowly escalating unease of The Rose Garden sent shivers down the spine and the descent into murderous madness of the condemned man in The Black Cat had us all on the edges of our seats.
The second half belonged to The Signalman, with Sullivan taking the titular role. His portrayal of the lonely signalman haunted by portents of danger and the spectre of his own death was beautifully restrained. Restless anxiety and mental anguish flowed from his hunched shoulders and furrowed brow.
The Victorian splendour of the Lantern Theatre was most fitting and Found Theatre’s production was very much at home in it. These were not Hollywood yarns of shocks and gore, just classically told tales of creeping and titillating dread."
Sara Hill
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