The Cuckoo's Nest Theatre Company

Performances were held Wed 15th - Fr 17th October 2008, to a full house every day.

The action of the play takes place in the Village of Lark Rise during the 1880s.

Each Performances lasted about an hour, although the time flew by and seemed like 10 minutes. Split into 9 scenes, the action seamlessly rolled together, each scene connecting nicely to the previous ones, and leading up to the wonderful Harvest Festival final scene.

One of the most exciting features of the whole piece was the way the audience was there to view the performance yet was encouraged and empowered by the cast to participate and become one with the company and performance.

The humour in the play had everyone in the audience laughing, the humour often covered topics of a serious nature but in a way that was made bearable by adding a touch of humour without distracting from the serious subject at its heart. There were many very touching moments about the hard times people of that era lived through. The names of young boys shown in earlier scenes working hard to survive in the poverty of working on the land, were called out in a roll call of names of those who had died in the First World War. A touching scene which brought tears to the eye of many of the audience.

It was hard to believe this was an amateur production. The acting, dancing and singing was at a very high standard. Scenes were changed quickly and without any break or interuption to the performance, actors engaged the audience and held them spellbound.

The costumes were amazing, special thanks were given to Bett Martindale and to the local Rose Theatre for making and loaning individual costumes. They really set the scene for that period of time, and together with the whole room being painted with scenes from the actual village of Lark Rise, you got lost in the performance and felt you were back in time and sitting in a small rural village.

Company members alongside Scene Artists Ben Baynton and Sandra Hipwell, painted the scenery for lark Rise on the walls and on 3 large Screens..

The whole room incredibly became Lark Rise over a period of several weeks, with painting happening many days of each week, and weekends, any time the venue and the painters were available!

The result is this incredible scenery painting.

My personal favorite, the cat in the 'witching' tree, painted on moveable screens not the walls. I will tell more about the Which a little later!