Cider with Rosie programme

Mansfield Palace Theatre Thursday 2 - Saturday 4 July @ 7.30pm plus Saturday Matinee @ 2.30pm

Programme Note…

“I belonged to that generation which saw, by chance, the end of a thousand years’ life… a world of hard work; of white narrow roads, rutted by hooves and cart wheels, innocent of oil or petrol…”

- Laurie Lee Cider With Rosie, a poet’s evocation of his early childhood:- his arrival in the Cotswold village of Slad at the end of World War I; his fond and frustrating memories of his mother; the absence of his father; life with two brothers, three older half sisters and a half brother; the joys of his own sexual awakenings.

Laurie Lee, born in Stroud, Gloucestershire in 1914, added two more autobiographical novels – at the age of nineteen he walked to London and then onto Spain, as described in As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, and A Moment of War recounts his experiences in a country in the grip of Civil War as he joined the International Brigade in Spain in 1937. Lee returned to Slad in later life continuing to publish successful collections of poetry and other writing. He died in May 1997.

The novel, this play version being no exception, is all about vivid memories. Laurie Lee captures our imagination and demonstrates how human memory works – he takes us to the most wonderful settings realised to the full. He shares in the most simplistic ways the events of the time, speaks truths, exaggerates thoughts and constantly lets the memory be sparked off by an incident, a season, a song, a poem, a smell, a taste.

Many of us since our school days have read Cider With Rosie time and time again, and each time we allow ourselves to be led on a special journey, an insight into the simple and yet extraordinary life of a young boy in a Cotswolds village. His story draws us in, entertains, enlivens and enlightens our minds. Perhaps most of all, and I believe this is the reason for the enthusiasm demonstrated by those who do read this book, we are provoked and challenged into awakening our own personal journey of memories, even relating to and empathising with some of the shared, timeless experiences from what is the most important time of our lives!

Please enjoy sharing the experiences of Loll’s story with the Company this evening.

Christopher Neil Director

CAST Laurie Lee Loll (the young Laurie) Mother Marge Doth, Jo Phyll, Rosie Jack Tony Miss B, Mrs Davies Miss Wardley, Baroness von Hodenburg Spadge Walt Teacher, Granny Wallon Granny Trill, Mrs Pimbury Mr Davies, Squire Vincent, Vicar Uncle Sid, Major Doveton

Luke Talbott Amy-Lea Clifton Belinda Salt Hayley Pownall Lauren Taylor Marie O’Connor Connor Talbot Steven Humber Bernadette Birzulis Kay Vardy Matthew Lamb Jack Rice Joy Wright Sandy Edwards-Walsh Malcolm Seymour Andrew Vjestica Sandy Peet

Other roles will be played by the Ensemble

Original music score for Cider With Rosie by Michael Hurd by arrangement with Novello & Co. Ltd.

PRODUCTION TEAM Director Musical Director Assistant Director (Movement) Assistant Director (Production) Designers Lighting Designer Sound Designer DSM ASM (on work placement) Set Construction

Christopher Neil Ian Carter Hayley Pownall Marie O’Connor Christopher Neil Dai Evans Dai Evans Kirk Jackson Sara Bevan Summer Keeling Mick Savage Joe Tutty Eddie Ratcliffe

Production Team Biographies...

Ian Carter (Musical Director) Ian Carter has been playing and composing music in a wide variety of genres ever since his parents bought him a piano to try out at the age of eight. He has been involved in several shows at the Palace, beginning with Not Much Matches Mansfield in 2012, and most recently Oh What A Lovely War with the Community Theatre in 2014. He is a multi-instrumentalist and a singersongwriter. He also writes children’s songs. He has been a teacher of various subjects over a wide age range, and is an active Esperantist as well as an in-demand barn dance caller. In the 1990s he wrote a series of programmes for BBC Schools Radio and recorded a CD of his own songs in 2008.

Dai Evans (Lighting Designer) Dai has been Technical Manager at the Palace Theatre since 1994, prior to which he worked for a company in Manchester providing lighting services to the theatre, TV and film industries as well as working freelance as a lighting designer and theatre technician. During his time at the Palace he has worked on productions, too numerous to count, or remember, with local, national and international companies, and has designed the lighting for all the professional pantomimes.

Kirk Jackson (Sound Designer) Kirk has been working at the Palace Theatre for seven years. His main department is Sound.

Before the Palace, he graduated from Brooksby Melton College with a BND in Technical Theatre after three years of study. In his home town of Leicester, Kirk has also worked at The Little Theatre, Haymarket and The Phoenix Theatre. Kirk particularly enjoyed being part of the creative process and designing the sound for Oh What A Lovely War (2014), and has taken up the challenge of this year’s production.

Christopher Neil (Director) Since establishing himself as the Education Manager at the Palace Theatre, Christopher’s productions with the Community Theatre include Under Milk Wood, Brassed Off (2011 and 2013), Oh What A Lovely War and the community play Not Much Matches Mansfield. Before joining the Palace, he was joint Artistic Director of Trickster Theatre (an in-house Company at Studio Salford) with productions including Richard III, Closer and, under the same production partnership, a multi-media production of Othello (Best Production 2005 at Studio Salford). Other productions directed include In Manifest, Born Thirsty, Are You There?, Marshmallow Sky, Workshy, Swing (all for the Palace Theatre), and Wanderlust for local Nottingham-based company, The Gramophones.

Christopher has also worked at the King’s Head Theatre, Glyndebourne, Royal Opera House and Dundee Rep.

With Thanks to…

Brown Cow Pub Bernadette Birzulis Charmingly Yours Alan Godber Jill Hill Lace Market Theatre Mick Savage

Martin St James Mansfield Museum James Scutt Nottingham Community Wardrobe Andy Vjestica UK Productions Elaine Wharmby Peter Zakarian-Ball

Mansfield Palace Theatre Staff...

Cultural Services Manager Administrator Caretaker Education Manager Youth Theatre Administrator Front of House Manager Bar Supervisor Marketing Manager Marketing & Media Assistant Box Office Supervisor Technical Manager Assistant Technical Manager Technical Assistant Technical Assistant

Andrew Tucker Elaine Wharmby Peter Zakarian-Ball Christopher Neil Lisa Hopkinson Kath Ratcliffe Cate Stocks Louise Atkin Nicola Walters Ian Grindle Dai Evans Kevin Greene Kirk Jackson Joe Tutty

With special thanks to the Box Office, Cleaning, Bar, Front of House and Stage Door teams.

Waiting for Godot Tue 20 October @ 7.30pm £14.35 Full / £13.33 Concs.

Schools £7.18 (Prices include 2.5% Booking Fee) Samuel Beckett’s 60-year-old masterpiece is a ground-breaking tale of life and death which moves seamlessly between comedy, burlesque and drama. (Suitable for ages 14+yrs.)

Book for both Austen’s Women and Emma to save 50p per ticket

Austen’s Women Thu 24 September @ 7.15pm £10.25 All Seats (inc. 2.5% Booking Fee) Venue: The Old Library Theatre

Emma Tue 3 November @ 7.30pm £14.35 Full / £12.81 Concs. £7.18 Schools Block Bookers: Buy 10, get the 11th Free (Prices include 2.5% Booking Fee)