By Hook Or By Crook
The Programme
Wimborne Community Theatre (WCT) was set up in 1991 by a group of Wimborne residents to produce theatre in sites of special interest, exploring past, present and future stories through performance, involving schools and community.
WCT is run by a small planning group, working in partnership with East Dorset Heritage Trust, and with professional arts practitioners. Steering Group: Chris Dowdle, Jeff Hart, Barbara Hart, Tuppy Hill, Tony Horitz, Gill Horitz, Alan Wilson
WCT welcomes new members. If you would like to join a friendly, co?operative group committed to developing fresh creative ideas, researching local stories and making innovative site?specific productions, please phone 01202 874145 for more details. We welcome people with little or no experience in these areas, as well as people with creative skills to share.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special thanks to the following people without whom this project would not have been possible:
English Nature: Ian Nicol, staff and volunteers Alan Wilson, Director, East Dorset HeritageTrust and staff at Allendale House, Wimborne,
Tracy Cooper, East Dorset District Council, Len and Sylvia Hiscock, Roy Feltham, Doug Holloway, Sue Prost, Stall Holders, Ces of Holt Stores, and Holt residents who gave support & advice
Members of singing groups: Steamheat & Jubilate Shaz Watkins, Bournemouth Theatre in Education Priests House Museum and Bournemouth Theatre in Education for costumes and props; Audrey Kimber, Headteacher, St.James Primary School & staff Duncan Roebuck, Travellers' Education Support Service Gwen Duvall ? Research Rod Frampton, Holt Methodist Chapel for loan of table
By Hook or by Crook marks 12 years of site specific theatre in East Dorset by Wimborne Community Theatre. This year WCT was awarded a grant from Local Heritage Initiative to carry out research about Holt Forest, to collect stories and facts and to transform them into a play in a wood. The production has been developed in partnership with English Nature, with whom the group worked in 2003 when it created 'Bare Bones', a play on Hambledon Hill.
By Hook or by Crook is neither a play about history nor ecology. It is what happened when a group of people entered a space (in their own lives as well as the forest) and gave time and energy to looking and thinking creatively. Hence the word 'play' describes both the group's creative exploration and the transformation of ideas into product.
Within the limitations of time, the group always attempts to liaise
with and involve local people, not only in the performance but in other facets
of developing a project of this kind. Connecting with local people, realistically
and appropriately, is time consuming but vital. People told us their own Holt
Forest stories, about people being lost, and local characters about whom stories
had evolved, like Arthur Coffin, who lived in a cottage in the forest, and his
son, Walt, whom people still remember for his knowledge of the wood. Others
referred to the moment national politics affected the fate of local girl, Amy
Farrant, when her path crossed with that of the Duke of Monmouth in Holt parish.
From talking to residents, different points of view about the forest came to
the surface: to what extent should it be managed by English Nature, how freely
should horses be ridden on paths, should grazing be reintroduced, to what extent
should the wood be promoted as a place for people and dogs to visit? And as
well as these contemporary concerns, we explored the symbolism of forests, the
realm of nature's secrets, and as places for testing and initiation or a spiritual
world which we penetrate to find meaning.
Through a creative process of collective improvisation, lasting several months,
members of WCT discussed and acted out the emerging ideas and stories in words
and movement, which led to the shaping of the material and finally the writing
down into a script.
As we began to plan the settings for the scenes, many of the oldest and most stately oaks were hidden in dark overgrown areas, almost submerged beneath holly. English Nature saw this as an opportunity to begin clearing the holly and opening up the understorey to let in light, as a prelude to publication of English Nature's new Management Plan for Holt Forest.
If trees could talk they could tell a million stories,
If trees could talk they could tell a million tales.
Food for deer, holes for squirrels,
Nests for birds, camouflage for snails.
Working with professional artists is an important element in our
projects. WCT believes that our own progression as creative people is enhanced
by inviting artists to join us during the process. Apart from Tony and Helen,
WCT also worked with choreographer, Debbie Fionn?Barr, to explore ways of moving
across the woodland floor. And because clay was once excavated in the forest
to make clay pipes, artist, Tom Hall, helped children make tree masks from locally
sourced clay ? watch out for them once you
means to them.
Adrian is a professional woodland ecologist based at Bournemouth
University, who has been involved in a number of sonic arts projects exploring
the acoustic ecology of different environments. In particular he is interested
in how soundscapes can reveal the various relationships that people have with
nature.
A CD will be available shortly featuring sound recordings made during the project.
If you would like to receive a free copy, please leave your address at the WCT
desk.
Helen is a composer, musical director and voice coach. As well as working in
theatres all over the UK and in the Netherlands, Helen was also the music animateur
on the Confluence project, run by the environmental charity Common Ground. Recently
she was composer?in?residence at Whitchurch Silk Mill and Salisbury District
Hospital, and has had work performed at both the Salisbury and Chard Women in
Music festivals. She is director of two vocal groups: Shreen harmony and Steam
heat (Wimborne) and sings with the quartet Misbehavin'. She is also co?director
of Counterparts - UK
About the Artists:
Tony Horitz
As well as being Artistic Director of WCT Tony Horitz, is Co-director of Bournemouth
Theatre in Education, who are part of Bournemouth Borough Council's Lifelong
Learning Unit. He has practised educational drama and theatre for almost 30
years, as actor, teacher, facilitator, writer and director. He works with all
ages, from Early Years to adults. He also enjoys making theatre in unusual places
? " working site?specifically enables the actors and audience to experience
a common space creatively. They are not just performing a play in the open air,
but allowing a particular place to grow in a new way."
Torn Hall: View of a Wood
How do we look at nature? In an environment such as a wood, our senses are bombarded
with information, each twig we step on, smell that invades our nostrils or texture
that your hand falls upon. It is hard to take an objective look at what is before
us. In this series of sculptures, I want to push the viewer into a position
of the outsider, to find a different understanding of how we might look at the
space, one that is like walking into a room with a window, looking out onto
the 'idea'. Through simple levels of control, I want to put the viewer in a
position to interact with the wood as a an observer, to watch the sensory world
from a given position. This is achieved through distraction, and funnelling
of groups into a shared viewpoint and by removing as much of the idea of 'wood'
as possible. I want to 'lead you down the garden path', to put you in the position
which allows you to see in the way we might look in a white cube.
Adrian Newton: Soundscape
During the performance attentive listeners will hear a variety of sounds from
loudspeakers concealed within the wood. These hidden soundscapes feature sounds
made by birds and other animals currently living within the woodland, or that
did so in the past. In addition you will be able to hear sounds recorded
in Holt Forest during preparation of the performance, and comments made by local
people as they reflect on what the woodland have crossed the bridge into the
wood. Listen, too, for a soundscape featuring sounds made by animals and humans
within the woodland, created by sonic artist and forest ecologist, Adrian Newton.
Holt Forest has become the temporary focus of our lives. Most of the participants had never been here before. One young girl's father asked her, 'What's so special about this forest, then?' and so on Father's Day, she took him there to show the places she now knows so well, and to explain the stories that she helped create.
Travellers once lived within the forest, and people still remember the local midwife attending births. The vado (traditional caravan) represents their visits to this area. Coincidentally, a week before the play, two travellers arrived at Broad Lawn. They also had a view of the value of the forest and said, 'No money can buy that. It's worth more than anything.'
What next?
WCT is run by a group of people in their spare time. It aims to: support community
involvement, increase skills and creativity and extend access and participation.
After each project, we assess to what extent we have achieved these. This year,
we are pleased that Susan Willoughby is evaluating impact on some of the young
children and first time participants.
To complete the project, WCT is developing a website about the project which will contain interviews, photographs and video. (www.lhi.org.uk) An education pack will be devised, incorporating research material and information about the devising process
Cast
Singers: Helen Porter, Mike Dawson, Ian May,
Mark Geraghty, Jane Skellett
Scene 1 Debate at the Fair
Sian Champion, Chris Dowdle, Jeff Hart, Linda Stillman, Kenlis Horitz; Tuppy
Hill, Clare Small, Adam Small
Scene 2 Edwardian Puppet Show
Puppeteers: Jane Skellett, Michele O'Brien
Miss Suzanne Booker: Barbara Hart
Miss Nellie Booker: Marian Leatherdale
Pupils: Molly Burden, Alice Courtauld, Lily Courtauld, Benedict Coward, Claire
Harling, Yolanda Harding, Jenny Hill, Susannah Hill, Imogen Holford, Martha
Kisciny, Francesca Jones, Jack Murray Tyson, Letty Murray Tyson, Kathryn Richmond,
Megan Richards, Ella Ridley, Jack Ridley, Chloe Roberts, Tate Thorn, Rebecca
Wheeler, Victoria Williams
Gertrude: Kate Billington
Emily: Rachel Kent
Scene 3 The Stately Oak
Cast as scene 2
Scene 4 The Magic Tree
Cast as scene 2
Scene 5 Royal Commission
Sir John Poyntz: Jeff Hart
Commissioners: Chris Dowdle, Tuppy Hill, Clare Small, Linda Stillman, Kenlis
Horitz, Mike Dawson
Bailiffs Dave Arkell, Adam Small
Forest Women: Naomi Adams, Elizabeth Porcher.
Rachel Ross, Rachel Kent, AnneMarie Hodgson, Sian Champion, Kate Billington,
Ellie Dowdle
Scene 6 Lost children meet George Green
Fred: Jack Murray Tyson (Thursday Friday)
Benedict Coward (Saturday)
May: Letty Murray Tyson (Thursday, Friday)
Fransesca Jones (Saturday)
George Green: Ian May
Scene 7 Lord Monmouth and the Curse
Lord Monmouth: Adrian Newton
Aide: Jeff Hart
Forest Women as scene 5
Older Residents Chris Dowdle, Tuppy Hill, Clare Small Kenlis Horitz, Linda Stillman
Soldiers: Adam Small, Dave ArkeJl
Scene 8 Reunion
Company
Production:
Artistic Director Tony Horitz
Musical Director Helen Porter
Sculptor Tom Hall
Script Gill Horitz, Tony Horitz
Original songs Gill Horitz, Helen Porter
Musical arrangements Helen Porter
Project Co?ordinator Franny Owen
Costumes Jane Skellett
Soundscapes Adrian Newton
Ruffs Thea Hodgson
Firearm Adam Small
Local Liaison & Support Dunja Woods; Roy Woods
Choreographic Advisor Debbie Fionn?Barr
Sign Language Interpreter Wendy Ebsworth (Friday)
Learn the trees' tongue,
reach for the fruit.
Hear the bird's song,
find the best path.
Say the plant's name,
watch the seeds fall.
Weigh the wood's charm,
lie in its shade
before it's too late.
Hold the tree close, earthed by its age.
Hear the axe call.
Louder than words,
tell the trees' tale.